


Heroes Are Hard to Find

by Jolymes



Category: Daredevil (Comics), Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, Spider-Man (Comicverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-09
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-10-30 02:40:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 24,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10867326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jolymes/pseuds/Jolymes
Summary: Peter Parker knew Matt Murdock all his life but never really got to know him. He wanted to, but they never really had any reason to talk. That all changed when Peter got bit by a spider, kick-starting a series of events that will pull the two teenagers closer together than they ever thought possible.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> my twitter is @jolymes

6 Years Ago.

It was meant to be a normal day. 

For the most part, it was. Peter got up, got dressed, and went on a walk with his Uncle Ben. He had wanted to bring a small comic book he liked along, but Ben said no since he had already lost one just last week. Peter had pouted, but like any other nine year old, he forgot about about it within five seconds. He slipped on his glasses, tied his shoes, and buttoned his jacket. After all, it was a cold day outside and Aunt May didn't want him getting chilly. Peter couldn't argue with that, he didn't enjoy getting cold. 

Uncle Ben and Peter walked around the streets of New York dozens of times before. Ben would tell Peter about all sorts of things, and Peter would listen intently. He asked tons of questions and enjoyed every walk immensely, especially when he would get ice cream in the end. Especially. 

Usually mundane occurrences such as a simple walk through the city wouldn't have an impact on a young child's mind. This wasn’t a simple walk as most would expect. 

It was interrupted by the sight of a truck screeching to a halt and a young boy's scream of pain. 

A small crowd formed around the scene. Peter had to admit he wasn’t exactly known for his perfect memory. He forgot things all the time; especially childhood memories. However this event wasn’t like all his other experiences; it was sheared into his head in photo-realistic detail. He would remember it like it was yesterday for the rest of his life. 

Peter remembered Ben wanting to shield him from it, probably to preserve his innocence, but Peter wasn't stupid. 

He saw an old blind man thanking the young boy for saving his life. That was the more pleasant part of the picture. The more depressing part was the image of an adult man cradling a boy around Peter's age who screamed in agony that he couldn’t see. There were cans of toxic waste rolling across the street, but Peter was too young to put the two and two together. The thickening crowd and the young boy’s screams were far more attention grabbing. His mind couldn’t comprehend that these cans of toxic waste would be relevant in anyway.

Peter urgently asked his uncle if the boy would be alright, but Ben didn't have a definitive answer. He responded by telling Peter to sit on a bench and wait for him to get back. He proceeded to join the crowd and Peter could only guess it was to help those who got hurt. 

Peter didn’t see why Ben was allowed to help but he wasn’t. It was unfair and Peter wasn’t going to stand for it, he wasn’t in third grade anymore! He knew perfectly well how he would get in trouble for getting off the bench when he was told to stay put but… he didn't care. 

He got up and darted back into the crowd as fast as he could. However, in the time it took for Peter to weave through the crowd the ambulance had already came and the young boy was raised into it. 

Now that Peter saw him up close he felt like he recognized him. From where, he couldn’t remember. 

Ben pulled Peter aside, scolded him for not staying put, hurried him away from the forming crowd, and proceeded to give him a lecture about looking both ways when crossing the road.

The next day Peter went to school. The same elementary school he had went to since Kindergarten, of course it didn't change overnight, but Peter felt like he did. He couldn’t stop thinking about the young boy; the traumatic event was sheared into his mind.

It took a whole school day until he realized there was an empty desk in the classroom.

An empty desk that belonged to a boy just like him. A boy who Peter remembered to be a straight up bookworm. The type of kid who was known for not playing with the other kids much. Peter was similar in that aspect, he too didn’t play with the others much, but that wasn’t by choice. He used to make attempts to join in on fun and games, but the other kids didn’t like him much. The owner of the empty desk however seemed to be more… by choice he guessed. 

He couldn’t remember what the kid’s name was, but he did remember what the bullies referred to him as instead.

Daredevil.

Peter always thought it was stupid, a nickname was something like “butt head” or “fart brain”. It wasn’t something cool sounding like “daredevil” but what did he know? He guessed the other kids were getting more creative. 

The desk didn't stay empty for just one day, it stayed empty for about a month. Or so peter thought, he was only a kid and had little to no concept of time. For all he knew it could have been anything between a week and a century. One thing was clear though; something serious must have happened to whoever the desk belonged to. Peter was smart enough to realize that. 

The desk however, didn’t stay empty forever. The kid it belonged to eventually returned. 

He wasn't the same as he was before he left though. He now wore sunglasses indoors and sported a cane despite not being old or injured. 

The teacher reminded everyone that the boy's name was Matt and he had finally returned to their classroom. She then explained Matt was in an accident which caused him to become blind. Unnecessarily, she elaborated that blind meant he couldn't use his eyes and see like the other kids anymore. Peter knew what blind meant, most kids knew that. It didn’t stop the teacher from stating the obvious though.

He just never personally met anyone who actually was blind in his life. 

He never payed much attention to Matt before his accident, he didn't really pay anyone any mind. He was too busy being in his own little world and avoiding bullies who pestered him constantly. Now he paid attention to Matt, everyone did. It's not everyday a kid comes back from a car accident without the sense of sight. 

“Are you alright?” Peter asked Matt, pulling him aside one day.

“What do you mean?” Matt responded, furrowing his eyebrows.

Peter wasn’t sure why he asked Matt at all, he just felt like he should. “I um…” Peter paused, “I saw you get hit.”

“You were there?” Matt’s expression was blank. 

Peter nodded. “I wanted to help you, but um, my Uncle pulled me away… he’s nice though, you should meet him!”

Matt grinned slightly. “I’d like to, I appreciate the thought.”

Peter didn’t even know what the word ‘appreciate’ meant, but he was glad none the less.

As much as Peter would like to say that the two of them were close friends ever since, it’d be a lie. It wasn’t like they were on bad terms or anything, they just never talked much. Simply acquaintances who would have a conversation here and there, do a school project together here and there, but they wouldn’t have considered themselves friends. 

That was all meant to change once high school rolled around.


	2. Monday

Monday.

Matt wasn't a fan of the whole concept of high school. 

He had enough issues on his plate to worry about. His father's death, Stick, being the only blind kid in the whole school… It wasn't fun. He was used to suppressing and ignoring all the misfortune in his life of course, but he really could go without all the extra problems school gave him on a day to day basis. 

First of all, school is awful on his heightened senses. Most would think the streets of New York would be more overwhelming than the average high school, and for the most part they'd be right. Cities are overwhelming as hell, true, but at least he's been learning to deal with it ever since the accident. High Schools are an entirely different story, given they have ceilings and closed walls leaving you enclosed for hours on end with a few hundred talkative, hormonal and unhygienic teenagers. Middle School sucked, but the way he remembered it was slightly more tolerable than this.

He's learned to make due of course, but it isn't pleasant. He does not enjoy knowing there is a two month old pizza in a locker two halls over. He does not enjoy hearing every racist slur ridden conversation. He does not enjoy knowing exactly where and when his classmates jack their dicks under the table when they think nobody's watching. None of it is enjoyable in the slightest.

He guessed that's just all a part of high school. 

His education came before anything else of course, he studied as hard as his father wanted him too. He didn't bother with many things that the other kids bothered with. Sports, dances, cliches… he didn't have the time. He was dead set on becoming a lawyer and that was that. It was all he could do to honor his dead father who wanted him to make something out of himself, and he supposed in the end that's all that really mattered. 

Point was? He was not a fan of the school building and social aspects of it, but was perfectly fine with the academics that came with it. 

Anyone could imagine how delighted he was to hear about the field trip to Oscorp. All the school learning but without the school building that came with it. Sounded like a good plan to him. 

The bus ride there however? Exhausting. Just plain exhausting. 

Everyone was making too much damn noise. It was too noisy and too cramped, a swarm of insects all screaming at once. He could make out what was going on; he could hear Clint Barton chewing gum from the front of the bus. Cindy Moon's stomach was growling. He could smell the sweat on Jessica Jones's brow as she typed an angry text message. None of this was even mentioning the people literally screaming across the vehicle. Alison Blaire didn't seem to understand this was a school bus and not an opera house. Tony Stark was trying to draw attention to himself again. Flash Thompson was harassing Peter Parker as usual and God who the hell just farted?

Matt refused to focus on that sensation long enough to figure out who did it. Instead he opted to focus his mind on blocking out all the information he was receiving and focusing his mind inwards. He slowed his breathing and tapped his cane against the floor, focusing only on the slight tapping noise it made and filtering out everything else. He found it to be a very successful method of calming his senses and was frankly the best use for his cane since he did not really need it to walk across the street. 

Thankfully, the bus eventually came to a stop. 

"Everyone, off the bus!" shouted the teacher. 

Yeah, Matt didn't need to be told twice. 

"Let's go," Matt said, nudging his best friend Foggy Nelson who had apparently zoned out. 

"Right, right…" Foggy fumbled with his jacket and followed Matt outside. 

Foggy Nelson was undoubtedly the best thing to happen to Matt's life. After his Dad died Matt was left at the mercy of the American foster-care system and considering the fact that the closest thing he had to an adoptive father was Stick, who was an asshole, Matt was left with no one. Luckily for him, he was still able to attend public school. Most would not think this would not be a plus but it was where Matt met Foggy. They immediately bonded over a shared interest in law and the simple fact that Foggy treated Matt the same way he treated everyone else, completely ignoring his disability. After their friendship was formed it wasn't long until Edward Nelson learned about Matt's lack of parents and one adoption later Matt had a foster family to call home. 

"You think they're actually going to teach us anything useful?" Foggy mumbled. 

Matt shrugged. "Probably not, I'm going to take a wild guess and say this whole trip is one of Oscorp's advertising stunts, but don't quote me on that."

"At least we aren't at school anymore." Said Karen, walking up to the pair. 

Karen Page was an enigma. She seemed to be just some girl who liked to hang out with Matt and Foggy, but Matt always felt like there was something weird about her that even his radar sense could not detect. He never was able to put his finger on it, she could be anything from a recovering heroin addict to just some girl who had a crush on him. Maybe both. Probably both. 

"I'm just glad we're off the bus." Muttered Matt. 

"Don't need to tell me twice." Said Foggy. 

Once inside Oscorp Labs they were shown an array of strange science projects and displays which were meant to teach the class more about science, but if you asked Matt the displays seemed… off. Matt had to admit he did not have a scientific mind, so what did he know? He opted to ignore his gut feelings.

The tour-guide seemed new. She was nervous; it wasn't something that normal people could detect, her speech was calm and collected, but her heart beat was too fast to be normal. Either way everyone listened with varying levels of attention; Jessica tapped at her phone, Clint was still chewing his gum and Mary Jane was fidgeting with her hair. None of them seemed to bother paying much attention. 

At least the science types like Reed Richards and Hank Pym seemed to be getting into it at least. Peter seemed to be trying to pay attention, but Flash apparently refused to leave the guy alone, even on field trips. That wasn't to mention Harry Osborn was obviously proud of what his Dad had accomplished. At least some people were happy to be here. 

What happened next should not have been any surprise to Matt, he usually could detect even the smallest insects crawling from all the way across the room. He should have noticed, should have said something, perhaps he was paying more attention to the speaker than he thought he was? Maybe he got distracted by the smell of whatever Foggy had to eat last night, or maybe he was paying too much attention to the old lady who was having trouble crossing the street outside the building…

Whatever it was, Matt did not notice the large, radioactive spider crawling up Peter Parker’s arm until it was too late. 

"Peter watch out-!" Matt blurted out in attempt to warn Peter, but it was too late. 

"AAAAAAAGH!!!" Peter shrieked, realizing there was a large arachnid taking a bite out of his hand. 

"EW!" cried Flash, acting uncharacteristically cowardly at the sight of the spider. "SOMEONE KILL IT!"

Peter instinctively flicked his hand and the spider landed on the floor. Seconds later Cindy granted Flash’s wishes and crushed it with her shoe. 

"Owww…" Peter winced in pain. 

"You alright?" Asked Mary Jane, a girl well known for befriending Peter despite the harassment he receives. 

"I'm-" Peter stuttered, "I'm fine, It… It stings a little…" 

"Glad you're alright." The teacher stately calmly, however his heart rate had risen significantly. 

The panicked tour-guide's nervousness was now clear as day. She stammered about Peter having to remain calm in a way that made it sound more like she was trying to keep herself calm. She kept repeating over and over that Peter will be fine, Oscorp is incredibly sorry, and the spider was not poisonous and he will be fine. 

Once everyone was sure Peter was okay the tour resumed as if nothing had happened. 

Matt could tell some kids were giving him weird looks despite not being able to see them. They must be confused how the blind kid was able to know there was a spider crawling up Parker before anyone else did. He didn't have an answer for them, so he turned away. 

"How did you know there was a spider on Peter…?" Foggy murmured.

"Lucky guess." Matt said, he knew how stupid it sounded, but it was the only thing he could think of. 

"…Fair enough." Foggy replied, not sounding convinced. 

Matt could only guess what kind of expression he had on his face. 

Eventually, the field trip did end. 

Most people left the trip the exactly the same way as they had came. They smelled the same, their heart rates were the same, and their overall presence was registered the exact same way in Matt's senses as they had when they first arrived at Oscorp. 

Most people did not mean all people. 

Matt could only assume the majority of students likely forgot the whole spider bite occurrence the moment they stepped back on the bus. 

Matt wasn't the majority of students. 

Whether anyone acknowledged it or not, something drastic happened to Peter when he got bitten by that spider. Matt could tell his heart rate was faster and there was no doubt about it; his biology was changing. He barely recognized the guy as Peter by the time they got off the bus after being dropped off back at school. Everything about him sounded and smelled different; there way no way that was any typical spider bite…

Perhaps he'll ask him about it tomorrow.


	3. Tuesday

Tuesday.

Peter didn't feel normal. 

He squirmed uncomfortably in his desk. Nothing's been the same since that field trip, and it was only yesterday! He knew he felt weird on the bus ride home, his hand was glowing weird colors, but honestly why would he bother making a bigger scene than he already had? There just wasn’t any point in it and he knew that if he had he was just feeding Flash more golden material to screw with him with. 

All he knew was, just yesterday he went on a field trip with the class, got bit by a spider and now… He woke up with twenty twenty vision and a six-pack. 

Don’t get him wrong, he wasn’t complaining. This was great! It was everything he could ever dream of. Maybe it was a little freaky that a spider bit him and suddenly he went from little geek kid Parker to… strong geek kid Parker (who also no longer needed glasses).

He wasn’t going to lie it was cool, cool as hell. Little scary as in oh my god my body could probably explode at any minute scary, but mostly cool. 

He got so lost in his thoughts about his new found powers he didn’t even notice it when class ended. 

“Shit, shit,” He fumbled with his book bag. Usually he tried getting out of class first so he could escape the evil clutches of Flash and co, they can’t bother you if you're faster than them. He groaned, an encounter was inevitable now. 

“HEY PARKER!” 

Just as expected. 

Dammit. 

“Flash, I have a class to get to next period will you please just-”

“Hahaha! What’s little Parker in a big rush for? Scared another little, bitty, spider is gonna crawl up you, you little baby?” He jeered before shaking his arm and faking tears in an obvious parody of Peter’s spider bite.

Peter rolled his eyes. Of course he’d use the whole spider bite thing against him. Of fucking course. 

Before Peter could even attempt to make his swift exit an unexpected voice spoke up.

“You know what’s ironic? I distinctly remember you almost crying like a baby at the sight of the spider yesterday, Thompson.”

Peter blinked. Things like this never happen, people don’t speak up against Flash, at all. He couldn’t believe it was happening, he dreamed about things like this, yet there he was. The token blind kid of the school, Matt Murdock, had spoken up for him. The guy who was known for hanging out with Foggy Nelson, wearing collar shirts and ties everyday, and being the kid all teachers dreaded having out of fear of having to translate their lesson plans into braille. 

“Excuse me?” Flash furrowed his eyebrows.

“Do I have to repeat myself? Don’t bother pretending you don’t remember, we all witnessed it. You squealed like a little sissy and everyone heard you do it. You’re really just embarrassing yourself right now, that’s all I’m saying.” Matt stated, calmly and matter-of-factly. 

“You shut up right now you…” Flash’s mouth hung open for a second as if he were searching his vocabulary for a derogatory term to use against the blind. Once he realized he didn’t know any, he stammered. “This isn’t over, welcome to my shit-list, Murdock.” He then turned down the hall, probably to whatever class he had next.

“‘Welcome to my shit list?’ wouldn’t that imply that… Uh…” Peter rambled before turning his attention back to Matt. “Never mind, God, thank you so much, really.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “No one's ever really bothered saying anything before.”

“Don’t mention it, I need the practice if I’m gonna be a defense attorney one day.” Matt grinned and straightened his tie. “Besides, he tripped my cane and stole my glasses a few times already. It’s payback for me too.”

“Glad I’m not the only one.” he laughed, “You know, I think you’re going to be a great lawyer.” Peter grinned right along with him. “I don’t actually know the details of what lawyers do, but for future reference, please don’t put me in jail and we’ll be golden.” 

Matt gave a soft laugh to that. “Yeah no, that’s not what defense attorney means. It’s more of a standing up to a corrupt system to protect the innocent sort of thing. So I mean, if anything, call me up if you want to stay out of jail.”

Peter chuckled, “Finally a guy I can trust to bail me out of prison. You know, just in case.”

Matt was clearly amused. “Funny, but our next class is starting soon so I’ll try to be quick, I came to ask you a question.”

Peter raised an eyebrow before remembering that Matt couldn’t see it. “Yes?”

He tapped his cane on the floor as though he was thinking how to word what he was about to say. “Are you alright? Like, how do you feel after the spider bite.”

Peter wasn’t sure how to answer that. How should he answer that? Truthfully, he felt great. Better than great, super humanly great. The question was though, should he admit that out loud? No, probably not. Matt seemed like a great guy and all, but if anything was meant to be a secret Peter was sure freak superhero powers from freak spider bites fit the bill. 

“Um, I feel fine. Yeah, same as usual.” Peter stated, “Thank you for asking though, I appreciate it.”

Matt was quiet for a moment, as if he knew he wasn’t getting the full story. “You’re welcome.” He stated and turned to walk down the hall.

Then, Peter remembered something important.

“Wait, don’t go just yet though.” Peter walked next to Matt to his class, not caring that his was in the other direction. This was more important than getting there on time. 

Matt’s cane tapped the floor ahead of them as they walked. “Speak your mind.”

Peter shoved his hands in his pockets. “Right, so here’s this thing I don’t get about the whole spider bite on the school trip situation, since we’re on the topic and all.”

Matt scoffed. “Didn’t that happen to you and not me? You know more about it than me.”

“Don’t get ahead of me here, I’m not done yet. You were there on yesterday’s trip, but you saw the spider on my hand before I did, right?” Peter caught his miss wording and smacked his forehead. “I don’t mean ‘saw saw’ but, uh, you know what I mean. You warned me there was a spider on my hand before I was even bitten. How'd you know it was there?” 

Matt stopped his tapping and walking. He looked slightly uneasy, “Let’s just say, my hearing is fantastic.” He smiled dryly. 

That didn’t seem to explain anything at all, but Peter guessed that was the best explanation he was going to get. He wasn’t exactly keen on making false accusations about Matt Murdock faking his blindness after the guy was so damn nice to him. 

“Can you tell me if this is Mr. Lenshurr’s class?” Matt asked once he came upon his classroom. “Bit difficult to tell the difference between different rooms without being able to read the door signs.”

Peter gave up. Matt was blind as a bat, he probably misheard him on the trip anyways. It must have been some other kid who saw the spider on his hand. He suddenly felt very embarrassed for bringing it up at all. 

He helped guide Matt to his classroom and sprinted off to his own, if he was fast enough maybe he won't get a tardy at all.

Fortunately, he made it just in time. Thank God for radioactive arachnids with a hunger for human blood. If he wasn’t in shape before he definitely was now. 

He took his typical seat in his desk next to Bobby Drake and wondered what Matt meant by his question all next period. Funnily enough, it reminded him an awful lot of a conversation they had as kids. The one where Peter asked Matt how he felt after the car accident that left him blinded. He had wanted to be friends then, but he guessed it just wasn’t meant to be. Back then that is.

Of course, the conversation reminded him of it up until the point where Peter asked his stupid uncomfortable question, but that was best left as a repressed memory not to be dwelled on. 

He instead thought about Matt’s accident and how witnessing it had affected him as a kid. He thought about how he had stood up for him today despite barely haven spoke a word to each other for years. He supposed Matt, despite being blind, had somehow known there was a spider crawling on his arm before even he knew it was there. Perhaps he really did somehow “hear it”. Who knows? Anythings possible, he got a six pack from a spider for god’s sake. He thought about the conversation they had just now, where it seemed like he knew something about his spider bite that even Peter didn’t know. He never really thought about it but despite knowing the guy for years he knew little to nothing about him. 

Peter was not the best at making friends, he was known as the geek who loves comics and science and spends more time in his own inner world than actually interacting with people. Maybe if he had put in a little more effort in befriending Matt it would have happened ages ago. Maybe.

He ignored the voice of Bobby spouting yet another witty joke and allowed his mind drift away from Matt. He had to figure out what to do about these new powers of his, what good do superpowers do if you aren’t ever going to use them? He wrote up a list on the sides of his notes, things to do with superpowers… The list contained anything he could think of from punching Flash Thompson in the jaw all the way to flipping burgers really fast and really good. 

After scanning the list a good couple of times and crossing off ideas that sounded stupid, challenging, or illegal he came to a conclusion.

Boxing. Boxing was perfect. It had money, fame, and money attached to it. What more could you ask for? Plus, it looked fun. Did he mention he could make money off it? He totally could do that. It was a good plan. 

This was going to be fun.


	4. Wednesday

Wednesday.

Life moved forward as life typically tends to do. 

Matt focused on his school work, did his best not to think about Peter Parker… The guy said he was doing alright after all. He didn’t know why he was so honest when it came to telling Peter straightforward that he heard the spider crawl up his arm. He supposed it was due to how Peter too had abilities now, no point in lying to him about his senses. He doubted he took him all that seriously about it anyways, especially when he pulled that whole act of not knowing where his next class was. His cover wasn’t blown yet. 

Matt still couldn’t figure out what exactly was going on with Peter biologically, but like he said; he never was the science type. It just felt strange to have someone’s entire physical make up change so quickly, it really gave his radar sense a ride for its money. 

It was not a bad change though, strange, but not bad.

He was just happy the guy wasn’t dying is all.

He thought that perhaps the whole thing will be settled, that essentially Peter Parker was still the same old Peter Parker, but he supposed not. 

Matt was in his bedroom that he shared with Foggy, skimming his fingers over the pages of some expensive braille law book he somehow managed to get his hands on. He had already finished his homework an hour or so ago which meant he had free time. Free time in the life of Matt Murdock meant studying his law books, refusing to waste a single day of his preparation for law school. 

Foggy bounded into the room, “Hey Matt, Karen just texted me and…” He paused as if he were reconsidering his options and only now realizing whatever he was saying must have sounded stupid.

Matt pushed aside his law book. “What’d she say?” He somewhat missed the time before texting became popular and he could eavesdrop on any phone conversation and know exactly what was going on. Texting just forced his nosy little ears to be left in the dark on everything. 

“Okay well, apparently there’s some crazy stuff going on at the boxing ring…” Foggy scratched his head awkwardly, “like never before seen stuff, and Karen was wanting to go check it out with us, but…”

Matt knew exactly why Foggy was acting this way. Foggy and Karen must have forgot for a second how Matt’s dad was the Legendary Battlin’ Jack Murdock who died soon after one of his winning fights. Foggy was just now remembering that essential part of his backstory and was trying to be respectful and not pressure Matt into going, but…

“Sure, I’ll come.”

“You will?” Foggy’s voice did nothing to hide his surprise. “Please don’t like… feel obligated to come or anything, I get what the boxing ring means to you and all, and I-”

“Don’t worry about it.” Matt said, reaching to find his cane. “It was a long time ago and… I shouldn’t let my grief ruin my fondness for the sport. I’m coming, it can be nice to get out of the house once in awhile anyways.”

“I’m glad to hear it!” Foggy exclaimed. “Come on, I don't want to leave Karen waiting for us.”

The walk to the boxing ring wasn’t long, but it felt longer to Matt due to being able to hear the large crowd of people swarm around the building. God, what could possibly be going on? Matt didn’t expect anything actually big to be going on, he thought perhaps Karen was a fan of the sport and simply wanted the trio to hang out for the night. While he was sure he wasn’t entirely wrong, clearly, there was something more at play here. 

Of all the years Matt has lived here that ring has never been nearly this crowded, ever. The sounds of the swarm talking amongst themselves was comparable to the sound of a lion in his ears. The mass of Body odor could be smelled from a ten mile radius in all directions, he could tell. Not to mention the sheer number of excited heartbeats thumping along; Matt never heard anything like it so close to home. 

Karen was not kidding when she said (or texted) something big was going on.

Eventually, Matt and Foggy too joined the swarm of people. There were many different people speaking many different words in many different voices. Despite all the noise, there was only one word that stuck out from all the rest of the crowd’s yammering.

Spider-Man. 

So that was the title of the new boxer causing all this commotion. Definitely a calmer name than something like “Muscle Crusher” but nothing to get this excited about. Matt decided to not make any judgments until he saw the Spider-Man for himself. 

He listened to Felicia Hardy try to steal her tickets in only to realize that he, in fact, did not have tickets himself. 

Thankfully for them, Karen came to their rescue with a trio of tickets pre-bought for all three of them. Matt needed to ask Foggy to remind him sometime to bake Karen a cake or something as a thank you. 

There was a part of him that felt smug about being able to walk through those doors no problem while Felicia had to struggle her way in. She thinks no one knows about her thievery but Matt knows; Matt knows a lot of things.

However, Felicia and her thievery was the last thing on Matt’s mind. Before he even walked in the front doors, he knew. Before the announcer even said “Spider-Man”, he knew. Before Spider-Man even entered the ring, he knew. 

He couldn’t mistake that smell, unique heartbeat, and brand new physique anywhere.

Spider-Man was Peter Parker. It was a fact that could never be hidden from Matt; it was clearer than day. There was absolutely no doubt about it. 

As his radar sense took in information from his surroundings and mapped the basic forms of Spider-Man flipping around and tossing his opponents to the ground, it dawned on Matt. How could he have been so stupid? No wonder Peter’s biology changed so quick; he was given superpowers. The spider that bit him must have been radioactive the same way the radioactive waste that blinded Matt gave him his heightened senses. Everything made sense. It all made sense. 

He clapped his hands and cheered with the crowd as Peter brought down his opponents. There were people he recognized amongst the crowd, the girl everyone said was beautiful, Gwen Stacy’s, cheers were loud and passionate. That one Bobby Drake guy was hollering, though that was no surprise, the guy was the class clown type. Even that Logan guy who reeked of cigarette smoke and was known for not making many friends seemed to enjoy the show. Matt missed being in the audience like this, rooting for someone. Last time he did it his Dad ended up dead on the pavement, but this was no time for that. For now he was going to cheer on someone else, it’s what his dad would have wanted. 

He cheered for Spider-Man; Peter Parker, with all his heart and soul. It was the happiest he felt in a long time. 

His happiness was short lived. 

When the fights were over and he was no longer caught up in the energy of the crowd he smelled something horrible.

The unmistakable smell of a gangster joined with the quickened heart of a large man experiencing extreme bouts of rage. 

That was when a horrible thought came across Matt’s head. 

What if the people who fixed his Dad’s fights weren’t gone?

He froze. How could he have been so stupid as to not consider this? Why would the people who killed his Dad stop? Oh no… If the fights are still fixed and money is being passed around to make certain people win and certain people lose… What does that make Peter?

“Foggy, Karen… You too go on ahead, I’ll catch up with you later.” Matt said, excusing himself.

If either of them wanted to say something in response they were out of luck; Matt was already long out the door. 

His mind was running seventy miles per minute. He had to do something… if Matt let Peter keep screwing with the Fixer’s fights like this he was going to end up just as dead as his father. The thought horrified Matt. No, he was not going to let anyone die the same way he did. Never again. 

He scavenged his brain for ideas on what to do. He blocked out all his senses and thought so hard his brain hurt. Think, Think, Think! He wanted to smash his head on the pavement; anything to get his head to think straight.

Then, it dawned on him. 

Peter had the right idea with his whole Spider-Man persona. Wear a mask. Wear a mask and use your superpowers. It wasn’t like Matt didn’t have the ability; he not only had enhanced scenes far beyond human compatibility, but he was trained by Stick for years. He had the ability, he just needed a mask and he will be all set. He could punch his way to revenge all while protecting Peter from the shit bags who killed his father. 

Matt was going to finally do what he should have done years ago. 

He found himself a mask, and got to work.


	5. Thursday

Thursday

Last night was a success. A huge success. 

Peter fumbled to put his costume on. He was pretty proud of how it looked, considering the amount of time he had to work on it. He spent time designing the outfit once he realized that he needed to mask himself in order to not get in trouble for being a high school kid participating in boxing. It was a good concept overall; all the fame and glory but none of the messy personal life. This was probably how Hannah Montana must have felt. 

The costume was red and blue; colors that went together well. He was never amazing at sewing, but thankfully it came naturally to him and the final product didn’t look half bad for a high schooler's handiwork. He wanted to add on cool web patterns across the red portions of it, but he had no idea how to go about that. He’ll look up a tutorial on YouTube when he had the time. 

Once the costume was on nice and tight he considered whether or not he wanted to wear his normal clothing on top of it. Yesterday he simply changed in the bathroom since it was his first time, but it was time consuming. Today he decided to wear the costume from the get go, but wasn’t sure whether or not he should just travel to the boxing ring wearing it and nothing else, or travel there with his normal clothing on on top the costume and worry about disposing it later. 

He threw the normal clothing on the floor. No point in wearing it there if he could just travel across roof tops using his power to wall crawl. He jumped out his window, crawled across the first building he came across, and leaped across the rooftops. 

The feeling was exhilarating! The rush of air was incredible, every time he jumped he felt less and less scared that he would fall and die. It made him feel alive in a way that his previous wimpy life of nerdom never could. Peter was born for this. 

He sneaked into the boxing ring from the back door as he usually did. Yeah, masked kid entering boxing rink from the back door, totally not suspicious. It's a good thing he was so good at this whole fighting thing or he might have been arrested long ago. 

Maybe then he’d actually need Matt to bail him out of jail he thought, amused at the idea. 

However, the situation didn’t call for Peter to get lost in his thoughts about Matt. Something else caught his attention; tall men in suits were rushing about the areas where lockers and wrestlers got ready. They were yelling at each other about some teenager in a mask ruining all their operations last night. Peter’s mind drew a blank, what masked teenager? Wasn’t he the only masked teen around these parts? 

“Hey excuse me guys, what’s going on? Who's the masked guy everyone's talking about? Is this about me? Sheesh, I didn’t know I made that much of a splash in one night.” 

The men didn’t look amused. “You’re that masked kid in black, aren’tcha? The one screwin’ with our operations? The Fixer let you have your fun and let you have your money and the way you repay him is take out his subordinates, demanding to know his real name and where he is? And now that you have our attention you somehow have the audacity to show up here again? Tell me, are you just that stupid?” 

Peter put up his hands in retreat. “Okay, you caught me, I’m a big idiot. But uh, I think you’ve got the wrong guy? I don’t know anything about who the Fixer is and-” 

“DON’TCHU LIE TO ME!” A different man shouted. “You are the only guy in a mask around here, Spider-Man. If you really are so innocent as you say you are, why don’t you take off the mask?”

Peter started backing away slowly, “Yeah, this mask stays on. Listen, I’m only here to box and maybe get some cash, I don’t want any trouble and-”

“You have three seconds to take off that mask.” The third man in a suit spoke, pulling out a gun from his jacket. He pointed it directly at Peter's face. 

Peter’s spidey sense went haywire. “Is this how you fire all your people or just the harmless spider ones? Jesus!” There was no talking this out, he had to get out of here, pronto. Once again Peter thanked God for his new spider reflexes; they saved his life then and there. He flipped his way out of the building without getting shot and crawled his way up a building to escape the men running after him. 

Thankfully, the men did not seem very keen on pursuing him. Their reason for this was the actual guy in the black mask stole their attention. Peter had to admit, whoever the guy was he had his attention as well. 

The costume wasn’t anything remarkable, if you could even call it a costume. It looked like a rip off of Westley’s stupid outfit at the beginning of Princess Bride. Or was it the beginning? Could have been the middle, it’s been awhile since he watched that movie. Either way it didn’t matter, the get up consisted of a black rag pulled down over his eyes, a black sweater and black pants. All easily found items in your everyday American Closet. 

What was remarkable was his incredible fighting skills. The guy was more muscular than Peter was, sure, but he couldn’t be much older than him at all. He had the physique of your typical high school basketball player, but it was extremely obvious the guy was far more skilled than that. He avoided bullets, successfully unarmed them and barked threats of what he would do if they hurt anyone ever again. If this guy ever considered entering the ring, Peter was glad he was no longer part of the business. 

He considered for a second running home. He could just go home and forget this whole thing ever happened, just go back to his everyday life and stop using his powers for the time being. Boxing was over for good so why was he still hanging around? 

He decided against it. Clearly the masked man was a dangerous maniac, but the guy clearly had an issue with him, couldn’t hurt to try talking to the guy, right? Actually, it could hurt, but Peter was feeling confident. Narrowly escaping death would do that to you. 

After the masked man finished his beat downs he left the men lying in the alleyway, most either unconscious or too wounded to do much of anything. For the time being, that was. 

“No one told me there was another kid in a mask around these parts. Never thought I should get my brand copyrighted but, hey, it happens to the best of us. You don’t happen to have a spider theme too, do you? That’d be totally uncool and I am morally obligated to sue you.” Peter crawled down the wall, deciding the humorous approach was the smartest way to go when it came to approaching the guy. 

He stopped walking, but didn’t turn around to look at Peter. “Go home, this doesn’t concern you.”

“You say that but, I’m pretty sure it does?” Peter folded his arms. God he loved this mask, he could be a smart ass and show off his powers all he wanted without Flash beating on his ass. “You just ruined a good gig I had going!”

“You just got shot at by your managers and you're telling me I ruined things for you?” The man finally turned to face Peter. Yep, the mouth looked just as young as the rest of his body did. “I saved you from yourself, you’re welcome for that.”

Peter huffed. It sucked how the masked guy was right. “How’d you even know those guys were dick bags, anyways? Or why do you even care what’s going on with my life anyway.” 

The guy turned around and kept walking. “I don’t need to explain myself.” 

“Oh come on! Are all the masked guys in dark alleys this edgy and asocial? I think asocial is the right word, fun fact but antisocial doesn’t even mean not social. I read that in a magazine once, but feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.”

“You’re not always this talkative, are you?” The guy snapped. 

“Are you?” Peter retorted. 

He groaned. “Just go, those guys will be out of your hair now, I made sure of it. You can thank me by leaving me alone now.”

Peter could see he was getting nowhere fast with this guy. “Suit yourself, welcome to the masked teenagers who are in way over their head club anyways.”

The guy actually seemed slightly amused by that. “Who ever said I was in over my head?”

“You just left an alleyway filled with unconscious, armed, buff guys in expensive suits.” 

The guy put his head in his palm. “Just go.”

“Also, one more question, but how do you see with your mask over your eyes like-”

“Go.”

“Okay! Okay, fine. Going now.”

Peter didn’t know why he provoked the masked guy the way he did. The guy did frustrate him for getting up in his business of course, but you would think that Peter would have the sense not to mess with dangerous guys with masks who can take down hordes of men in dark suits. He probably did it because despite the obvious danger, his spidey sense didn’t sense any actual danger from the guy. In fact, if anything he felt like someone Peter can be safe and comfortable around, as if he already knew him. Weird concept to wrap his brain around of course, but he felt like he could joke around with the guy and not be in any actual danger. 

At least he was right; he was perfectly fine after the entire encounter. Maybe he could forgive the masked guy for screwing up his boxing career, the managers were dick bags after all.

He was about to crawl back up a building to travel across the rooftops home but a mugger ran past him and with him came the desperate yells of a man who most likely just got mugged.

“Someone, anyone! Someone please stop that man! Call the cops! Anyone, someone help!” The man suddenly noticed Peter. “You’re that Spider-Man guy from the boxing ring, right? You’re strong enough to stop that man! Please help!”

Peter watched the mugger run off. “It’s not my problem, ask that masked guy. He seems to be into the whole beating people up thing.” 

The man gave Peter a look of disappointment before continuing his chase down the street. 

Peter climbed up the wall, jumped across the buildings, and made his way home.


	6. Friday

Friday. 

Last night was incredible. 

Not to brag, but Matt thought he did really a great job taking out criminals. If you asked him his whole “masked vigilante” thing was a success. The scum who took out his father were off the streets and away from harming anyone again. Away from harming Peter Parker and whoever else they were tormenting in that ring. Honestly? Matt’s only regret was not doing it sooner. 

That's not to say the whole beat down was the only highlight of the night; there was the conversation he had with Spider-Man. Matt didn’t really mean to be rude or blunt with Peter, but he didn’t need to concern himself with the violent crap Matt decided to bury his own grave in. He could hang out and fool around with Peter all he wanted, but only as Matt Murdock, not whoever he was running around as for the last two nights. 

Peter was definitely more talkative last night than his school self was all year. Matt thought the guy would leave him alone, he was aware he watched him beat up his corrupt managers, but he assumed that Peter would leave once the show was over. He was wrong. Peter climbed down and cracked jokes with Matt in the middle of the dark alley, not at all concerned how they were a couple of shady teenagers in masks. 

Clearly, Peter was braver than Matt gave him credit for. Funnier and more talkative as well, he wondered what else there was to know about Peter that he didn’t know about.

He’d love to learn more, but there was a slight problem. 

Peter didn’t show up for school the next day. 

Matt only shared two classes with him, math and chemistry. He tried to shrug off Peter’s absence from Math as Peter running to school late, it was first hour after all, but when he didn’t show up for chem either Matt got concerned. What could have happened to him? He has superpowers, his biology was too enhanced to allow for the common cold to get to him. He was sure the Fixer’s men couldn’t have gotten to him, could they? He took care of them in the alleyway last night, and even if they had somehow made it out with functioning limbs, Peter had more than enough abilities to fend them off himself. Hell, Matt probably didn’t even need to take them out for him. Peter could have done it himself if needed… but if Matt was going to be honest he knew he was looking for an excuse to punch the men who killed his father anyhow. 

The other kids weren’t talking about Peter. They were more concerned with whether or not the Midtown High Avengers were going to win at tonight’s big football game. The only guy who seemed to take notice was Flash Thompson, who seemed more bored than usual without his typical punching bag around. 

Once chemistry was over Matt made walked out of the classroom and searched the hallways for one of Peter’s friends. Mary Jane Watson, Gwen Stacy and Harry Osborn were the only people who came to mind, if Peter had any others he definitely didn’t hang out with them much. 

Navigating crowded hallways was definitely on Matt’s personal top ten list of reasons why high school is a living Hell. The science hallway was almost as bad as the math hallway, filled to the brim with bustling teenagers who really didn’t give a shit that Matt was blind and therefore had no problem shoving him out of the way to get to their next class. Assholes. 

He was about to attempt scanning the entire crowd for Gwen, Mary Jane, or Harry. Luckily for him, he didn’t have to. 

“Matt, Wait up!” His own best friend, Foggy, called out after him.

“Oh, hey Foggy, since when do you have class in this hallway?” Matt asked, grinning despite himself. Foggy usually hung out with him between the passing periods of second to third hour and third to fourth hour due to their classes being next to each other. However, fifth to sixth hour was a different story given how their fifth hours were on opposite sides of the building. 

“Man, is everything an interrogation with you?” Foggy asked rhetorically. “Classic nosy Murdock! We were in the computer lab this hour and I thought I’d drop by, relax!”

Matt laughed softly. “You know I wouldn’t be myself if I weren’t nosy, it’s my number one award winning trait.”

“Yeah you bet, hey! Everyone make way, blind guy and slightly claustrophobic friend, comin’ through!” Foggy said, yelling out to the crowd. 

The good news; Foggy’s yelling did somewhat disperse the crowd. The bad news; Matt was still too damn overwhelmed to find anyone in the horde of people. 

“Foggy, do you have any idea where Mary Jane, Gwen Stacy or Harry Osborn are?” Matt asked, “There’s something I need to ask them about.”

“Um… I don’t see them right… Oh! Hey, MJ! Gwen!” Foggy called, obviously having found the people Matt was looking for. 

Mary Jane was standing by her locker and conversing with Gwen Stacy. If there was anyone who knew what was going on with Peter, it was those two. 

“Excuse me,” Matt said, catching up to the two of them. “May I talk to you two for a second?”

“Oh! Hey Matt,” said Mary Jane. “Sure thing, what's goin’ on?”

Gwen didn’t say anything, but Matt’s radar indicated that she crossed her arms. 

Matt ignored her and answered Mary Jane’s question. “You two are Peter’s friends, right? Like, Peter Parker’s, that is.” 

“Yeah,” Said Gwen, “We are, what about it?” 

Matt tightened his grip on his cane. Gwen Stacy always seemed to have some kind of problem with him for no reason. He had no idea what he ever did to piss her off, but he guessed it's natural. Everyone has certain people they naturally dislike and Matt supposed he simply was that person to Gwen Stacy. No point in him brooding over it though, he can’t please everybody. 

“Do either of you know why he didn’t show up at school today?” Matt asked, getting straight to the point.

“Why do you care?” Gwen interrogated. “You haven’t even-”

“Hey! He’s just asking a question, you don't have to be rude!” Foggy interrupted, quick to Matt’s defense. Thanks Foggy, Matt couldn’t have asked for a better best friend. 

“We’re doing a project together.” Matt said, lying through his teeth. “I would ask him myself, but I don’t have his number. I was wondering if any of you two know how to contact him? Or at least, know what’s going on with him.”

“He’s home sick! Alright? He’s just-”

“His Uncle Ben died last night.” Mary Jane blurted, interrupting Gwen. 

Oh. 

The four of them stood in silence for a moment, unsure what to say. Matt did not expect that kind of response at all.

“I’m… really sorry to hear that.” Matt said, apologetically. “I shouldn’t have pressed you to tell me.”

“It’s fine, you have a right to know.” Matt wished Mary Jane’s heart would jump and indicate that she was lying, but nope. Nothing. She was telling the truth. 

“Don’t apologize to MJ, it’s Peter’s life you’re invading.” Gwen spat. “If Peter wanted you to know he would have told you!”

Foggy grumbled at Gwen’s mean choice of wording. 

“Fair point.” Matt admitted, deciding to surrender before Foggy could start a real argument. “Thank you. Mary Jane, for telling me anyways though, I appreciate it.” 

“Just,” Gwen swallowed. “Don’t go harassing him or anything about this project thing you have. He’s going through a lot so, honestly? You can just finish it yourself.” 

“Will do.”

“Come on MJ, let’s get out of here.” Gwen said, tugging on Mary Jane’s arm. 

“Sorry for Gwen being rude to you and stuff, Matt. I think you’re a cool guy, if you ever wanna hang out I’m open to it. Oh, and call me MJ!” She said, following Gwen down the hall. 

Matt gave a small wave, pulled his cane out in front of him, and walked down the opposite direction of the hall. 

“Man, what’s Gwen’s deal anyways? She’s nice to everyone except you, why’s she always trying to start something with you? Pisses me off!” Foggy ranted, clearly he took Gwen’s mean wording to heart more than Matt did. After all, his blood pressure was rising significantly. Matt could tell.

“She didn’t outright say anything bad though.” 

“Oh you know what I mean! She’s out for your blood, dude!”

Matt couldn’t really deny that.

Gwen wasn’t what was important right now anyways, Peter was. 

Peter Parker. It’s so weird to think about how the cheery and humorous the Spider-Man he had talked to just last night was only hours away from finding out one of his legal guardians had died. 

Matt knew how it was like to have the person who raised you die. When his dad died his entire life was shattered. Most would assume the most important life changing moment of Matt’s life was when he was hit with the truck, and for the most part they’d be right, but the death of his father was the event that really molded Matt into the person he is today. Peter has gotta be feeling so alone right now… not to mention angry. Or at least, Matt felt angry when his Dad died. Especially since he knew his dad was killed by mobsters, he had someone to blame. Someone to direct his anger towards. It’s what made him into the vigilante he was today, despite being new to the job. That was the simple truth.

He had no idea how Uncle Ben died. He could have died from a heart attack, stroke, or some other naturally occurring health problem. It could have been from a car accident of some sort, loads of deaths occurred because of car accidents. Perhaps, it was something more than either of those things. Could it have been a murder? It was hard to imagine Peter’s elderly uncle be the victim of a hit from New York’s criminal underworld, but it was hard to imagine Matt’s dad being in that situation too. Look how he turned out.

Either way, Matt knew exactly what Peter needed right now. He might say that he wants to be left alone but that is not what he needs. He needs company and support. Not just any company and support; company and support from someone who knows exactly what it’s like to go through what he’s going through. That is the only kind that can truly help him when he’s in a spot like this.

Matt decided then and there he was going to spend his weekend helping Peter get back on his feet.


	7. Saturday

Saturday. 

Peter spent an entire 24 hours locked up in his room. 

He lived a relatively normal, basic, life any other New York teen would live up until that point. Well, if you ignored the spider bite that is. What he means to say is, he never had to face tragedy of any kind. Never lost anyone. Not until he came home Thursday night to find Uncle Ben had been shot dead by a mugger on the street. 

He skipped school the next day. Aunt May didn’t mind; she too was grieving the loss of Uncle Ben the same way Peter was. She understood. He did try to distract himself, he would scroll through twitter, flip through books, and throw a rubber ball against the wall. Sadly, nothing really kept his attention for long. He spent the entire day going back and forth between crying and staring sadly out the window. 

Night wasn’t any better than day was. The lack of light just highlighted how depressed he felt. Sure, that sounds like the lyrics of some generic emo song, but what could Peter say? Losing a loved one sucked ass. 

The reason it was hitting him so hard? Guilt. The same mugger who that man had shouted at Peter to stop was the one who shot Uncle Ben. He could have stopped this from happening, but he didn’t, and he payed the ultimate price. 

Peter got only about two, maybe three, hours of sleep that night. In the morning Aunt May tried to get him to eat Breakfast, but he refused; he really did not have an appetite at all. 

He had every intention to stay locked up in his room all day in complete solitude, but it was cut short by the sound of the doorbell ringing. 

“Peter!” Aunt May hollered. “There’s someone at the door for you!” 

Peter groaned. “Who is it?” He shouted meekly, his throat was course from not speaking for an entire day. He really didn’t feel up for this, whatever this was. 

“Says he’s a friend from school!” she shouted. 

Friend from school? Gwen and MJ were the only ones who seemed concerned about his state of being by the sounds of their texts. Harry either didn’t hear about it or didn’t care enough to send his condolences. Maybe he decided to show up at his house?

“Tell them I’m sick!” He said, not feeling like talking to any of those people at the moment. Didn’t like the idea of looking sad and weak in front of his friends, no matter how understanding they were.

“He says his name is Matt Murdock!” 

Peter’s eyes widened. That was a surprise, why would Matt show up here? He had like one conversation with the guy when he stepped up for him in front of Flash. While he did appreciate the act of kindness immensely, he didn’t think it automatically made them close enough to show up at each other’s houses, did it? Peter was never great at this whole friendship thing anyways, so what did he know?

“Coming!” he said despite himself. His curiosity was piqued and when his curiosity was piqued there was no stopping him. He got up out of bed, threw on a random old t-shirt and jeans, and trudged downstairs. 

Aunt May wasn’t kidding, Matt really was at his house. He stood in the doorway looking the exact same way as he did at school; firey red hair hanging over his forehead, red glasses on the bridge of his nose and blind person's cane in his left hand. He even wore his typical white collar shirt, tie, dress pants and shoes. 

Despite himself Peter had to admit he looked attractive. He supposed he never really thought of Matt in that way before, but perhaps sitting in your dark and dreary bedroom for over twenty four hours will do that to you. 

He felt slightly embarrassed for looking like such a mess. He knew Matt was blind and couldn’t see him, but he still felt embarrassed about it. Does complete and total mess of a human being have a smell? He sure hoped it didn’t. 

“Hey Matt,” Peter said, rubbing the back of his head nervously. “Would it kill you to wear a hoodie every once in awhile?” He might not be in the mood to crack jokes, but it was the best method he had to covering up his emotions. 

“Who knows, maybe it will. I never tried it.” Matt smiled slightly. “May I come in, Mrs. Parker?” 

“Sure thing, Matt.” she said and Matt walked in, taking off his shoes at the door. 

“I’ll leave you two boys to it then.” She said before heading back to the kitchen. 

Peter and Matt stood there, quietly staring at each other. Peter knew Matt couldn’t see and all, but it sure felt like he was being studied nonetheless. 

“So, I heard what happened to your Uncle.” Matt spoke, finally breaking the silence. 

“Yeah, it’s…” Peter swallowed. “It’s been a rough two days.” Has it been two days yet? It felt like ten, but it could have easily been just one day. Peter’s internal clock definitely wasn’t used to getting only a couple of hours of sleep, that was for sure. 

“I’ll bet it was.” Matt said, readjusting his tie. “Listen, I know what it’s like to lose a parent, I mean parental guardian, so I thought that maybe…” He paused. “What I mean to say is, do you want to go on a walk with me? You seem like you could use the fresh air and fall is coming soon, after all. It’s nice to enjoy the warm weather while it lasts and it’s always nice to talk to someone, you know?”

Peter thought about it for a second. Part of him wanted to just run back up to his room and continue to live in depression, self pity and grief. Thing was though, what’s the point in doing that? He can’t just mope around his house for the rest of his life, it wouldn’t bring Uncle Ben back and it’s not what he would have wanted for him anyway. 

“Sure,” He said despite himself. “Let me just get my shoes on first.”

It took Matt about ten seconds slip his shoes back on while it took Peter an extra twenty to tie his tennis shoes. Once he was done, he called out a quick, “I’ll be back soon, Aunt May!” before following Matt out the door. 

Matt was right about it being a nice day outside, the sun was shining and the temperature wasn’t too hot or too cold. However, Peter was not a fan of how chilly it could get when the wind blew. 

“Hang on Matt, let me get just one thing.” He said, turning back inside to grab a hoodie. He picked out a light blue one for himself before his eye caught his red one. Suddenly, he got an idea, and he grabbed that one too. 

He came back outside, slipping the blue one over his head. “Okay, now I’m ready.”

“Good, let’s get going-”

“On the other hand, you are not.” Peter pulled out the red hoodie and unzipped its zipper. “You see, the wind is cold, your collared shirt is thin, and I wanted to see how you’d look like in a hoodie. Come on, let’s see if it really would kill you to wear a hoodie after all.”

“Peter I can’t just- Uh,” Matt furrowed his eyebrows, unsure what to think about this development. He bit his lip, but didn’t resist when Peter slipped his arms through the sleeves of the hoodie. 

“There you go, see? Doesn’t hurt after all.” Peter smiled lopsidedly. “I know you can’t see it, but you look nice. I like it on you.” He added, he wasn’t sure if that was alright to say. It sounded stupid the moment it came out of his mouth and he got slightly embarrassed, but what could he say? Matt looked hot in a hoodie, if he was going to be honest. 

“Let’s just get going.” Matt stammered, his cheeks slightly flushed. Or at least, Peter thought he saw a blush, but he could just be cold from the wind. It was probably the latter. 

The two walked in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the outdoors and the sights of the city. Or at least, Peter enjoyed the sights, he supposed Matt just enjoyed the sounds of it. Either way they walked in silence, but it didn’t feel awkward, it was nice to just breath in the outdoor air and watch the cars roll by. 

Peter’s mind was a swarm of different thoughts. He did his best to not think about Uncle Ben being dead so he focused his thoughts on Matt instead. He had no idea what possessed Matt to come to his house and ask to go on a walk, but he was thankful he did; he was right, Peter did need this. After spending so long hiding from the world he tended to forget it still existed. He was glad Matt cared enough about him to do this and it was nice that he was someone who went through the same thing as him. It was different than the sympathy Gwen and MJ gave him; Matt was able to actually relate to what he was going through, something the two girls cannot. 

Peter thought about asking Matt about who had died, it was news to him and he was curious… but he didn’t want to pry. He knew he didn’t want people to pry into his grief for Uncle Ben, so he wouldn’t pry into Matt’s grief for whoever it was he was grieving. 

He wracked his mind for topics to talk about. As nice as walking in silence was, it didn’t help him form a friendship. Did they have any common interests? Peter liked comics, science, weird Buzzfeed videos he would watch when he needed something to kill time… none of which he felt Matt was into. What even was Matt into? All that came to mind was law, lawyers, and the legal system. He did have a reputation for always having his head dug into a law book, but surely there was something they had in common that they could talk about… think Peter, think…

Then it dawned on him. He distinctly remembered seeing Matt in the crowd during his one day of boxing glory as Spider-Man. 

“So, are you into boxing?” Peter asked as they turned down a street corner, sparking a conversation. 

“Somewhat, it was a big part of my life because of my dad before he, well…” Matt trailed off for a moment before refocusing himself on the conversation. “I’ve been meaning to get back into it actually, I don’t like to have past experiences hold me back from things.” 

Past experiences? Peter felt like he should know something about that, he rummaged around his brain for a bit, trying to think… 

“Your Dad’s a boxer, right?” He asked, unsure whether or not he was remembering correctly. He had vague memories of hearing something about Matt’s dad being a boxer, but he could be wrong. “If my memory is screwing up on me again feel free to smack me in the jaw.”

Matt grimaced. “Don’t worry, your memory is fine. Have you ever heard of Battlin’ Jack Murdock? He was pretty big way back when.” 

Peter’s eyes widened. Oh god he was a moron; Matt’s father was the loved one he lost. He remembered hearing all about it in middle school, everyone enjoyed going to the boxing ring and watch a good brawl. When Battlin’ Jack finally won big time only to be killed immediately after… It was the talk of the whole middle school. Peter wasn’t really into boxing at the time, but he definitely heard all about it. God, how did he forget about something like that? How could he? He was such an asshole. 

“Oh man I… crap, I’m sorry, I’m overstepping my boundaries, aren’t I? I swear I completely forgot…” Peter trailed off, trying his best to cover up his fuck up. 

“Don’t be, it was a long time ago.” Matt sighed. “It’s good to talk about these kinds of things and not ignore them.”

“I guess…” Said Peter, lost in thought. He didn’t really want to talk about Uncle Ben right now, but if he was prying into Matt’s life, even by accident, he had every right to pry into Peter’s right back. 

“Yeah, I too think that's a load of shit. It’s just what therapists say is good for you and all, you know?” Matt bit his lip. “But I don’t really like talking about those things personally, so I know it doesn’t really help me. I’m glad you did bring up my dad anyways though, I know talking about things doesn’t help me much, but that’s not necessarily true for you. If you want to talk about your Uncle Ben, just know I’m someone who’s here to listen and can relate with my own experiences.” 

“I’d rather not talk about it if I’m going to be honest here.” Peter shoved his hands in his pockets. God, it really was colder than he thought it was. “A good distraction like this is enough, honestly.” 

“Glad we're on the same page then.”

Peter thought for a moment, there was one thing he wanted to bring up… 

“Have you by any chance gone and saw Spider-Man? The masked boxer that was only there for like a day.”

Matt grinned. “I did actually, it was the first boxing match I went to since my Dad died. It was amazing… just spectacular, really. I couldn’t actually ‘see see’ it of course, but it was one of the best matches I’ve ever seen in my life.” He smirked, as if he knew something Peter didn’t. “Really, if I were to talk to Spider-Man himself, I’d tell him that he is the most incredible boxer I’ve ever seen, but if I'm going to be real…” His expression lost its grin. “He should stay away from the ring.”

Peter felt pride at how Matt enjoyed his performance. He thought he was spectacular! He was the Amazing Spider-Man and Matt loved it, half of him wanted to tell him he is Spider-Man on the spot. Matt already liked Spider-Man so he would automatically like Peter Parker and hopefully forget his little fuck ups. 

As much as he wanted to just sit there and revel in the praise Matt had given him, he couldn’t help but acknowledge the last part of what Matt said. “Are you… worried that Spider-Man would end up the same way as your dad?”

“Perhaps,” Matt sighed. “I just don't want him to get hurt. He seems like a good guy and I think there are better things to use his abilities on than boxing.” 

“Like what?” Peter asked, he could really use some guidance since boxing was his best idea. He still had powers he just… didn’t know what to do with them. 

Matt tilted his head, as if he were thinking hard. It took a moment before he responded. “I’ll get back to you on that… are you hungry?”

Peter rolled his eyes. “Come on, don’t avoid the question! I mean, theoretically, if you were to talk to Spider-Man, what would you tell him to do? Theoretically.”

“I’m hungry, there’s a Starbucks on this street. I say we go in there and get something to eat.” Matt said, quickening his pace. 

“Come on, Magoo!” Peter whined, hurrying after him. “Don’t ignore the question, I’m curious!” 

“I’m not ignoring the question, I’m avoiding it. I’ll get back to you on the answer later.” Matt stated simply. “Do you have cash?”

Peter pouted. “Fine, fine, you win. The score is 1-Murdock 0-Parker, the crowd is going wild.” He rummaged around his pockets, shit. He forgot his money at home. “I don’t have my money though, uh, we can just go back to my house and eat there, maybe?”

“No, we should eat now.” Matt demanded. “I should have a twenty, I’ll pay.” 

“Come on! I can’t ask you to do that for me.”

“You say that yet here I am, already opening the door for you.” Matt said smugly, opening the door to the Starbucks as if he were Peter’s doorman. 

“You know, when I decided to be your friend I think I forgot to read the warning label that said you're a stubborn asshole.” Peter said sarcastically, walking through the door. 

“You’ll thank me later, your stomach is really, really loud.”

Peter’s ears went red. That’s embarrassing, Matt heard that? He didn’t even realize his stomach was rumbling at all, suddenly he wished he had taken up Aunt May’s offer for breakfast this morning after all. 

“Well, man’s gotta eat, I guess.” he murmured, trying his best to cover up his embarrassment. 

Thankfully, the Starbucks wasn’t as jam packed as Peter thought it would be. Some college aged girl sat on her computer in the corner, a middle aged man was putting sugar in his drink, and an elderly lady was just picking up her cappuccino. 

Matt walked up the cash register where a girl from their school, Jessica Jones, was working as the cashier. 

“Hi welcome to Starbucks coffee what the hell do you want to order?” Jessica greeted them, chewing bubble gum. “Nice Hoodie, Matt.”

“I didn’t know you worked here now, Jessica.” Matt responded.

“Well I do now, some asshole from the last place fired me. I’m just trying to make some money to pay for goddamn college, assuming I go there anyways, you going to order something or not?”

“I was just saying it was nice seeing you around, do you know what you want, Peter?” Matt said, turning back to Peter. 

“Uh… not sure yet.” He looked up and down the menu. He didn’t usually get coffee often, Starbucks was expensive and when he did drink it it’s whatever Aunt May gave him in the morning. 

“Alright, I’ll have black coffee and a croissant. Oh, and make it a medium.”

“Great, what about your boyfriend?” 

Peter’s cheeks went red. “Um, uh, we’re not dating.”

Jessica raised an eyebrow. “Really? Coulda fooled me. I’ll repeat myself, what do you want?”

“Just a… mocha I guess,” he then looked over at the bakery rack. “Oh, and a danish.” 

Matt then dug in his pocket and pulled out a five dollar bill. “Is this a twenty?” he asked, showing it to Peter. 

“No, that’s a five.” 

“Dammit.” Matt swore, and shoved his hand back in his pocket to pull out another paper bill. Fortunately, he did pull out the twenty dollar bill this time, and he handed it over to Jessica.

“Pleasure doing business and all that shit, you’ll get your coffees in a bit.” 

Matt collected his change and found a table to sit at while they waited. Peter followed, sitting right across from him.

They sat quietly, waiting receive their coffees. Peter placed his elbow on the table and held his chin in his palm, resting it. He couldn’t help but study Matt, he truly was attractive. He sat with his head tilted to the side as if he were deep in thought while his left hand's fingers drummed steadily on the table. He never really thought about it that hard but he really did love the color of Matt’s hair, it was such a bright and vibrant color of orange… it really lit up the room. Not to mention it was combed well, he must have taken a shower just this morning. How do blind people comb their hair? If Matt was just combing aimlessly every morning then Peter really had to say he was impressed by what the power of sheer dumb luck could accomplish.

Of course, his hair wasn’t the only part of Matt to marvel at. His figure was well toned and muscular, Peter never saw Matt with his shirt off but he could only guess he would make a great model. Oh god, now he was thinking about Matt with his shirt off… He tried his best to shoo his thoughts away from that image but it kept persisting. What about Matt without his glasses on? Did he have cloudy blind person's eyes, or did they look the same way they did before his accident? Peter knew he knew Matt way back then before he got hit but… he honestly couldn’t remember what color they had been. Were they brown? Blue? Green? He had no idea, and there was no way of telling with his glasses on. 

God, now that Peter thought about it everything about Matt was perfect, of course his eyes would be amazing too. His skin was clear, he clearly didn’t have to worry about acne the way Peter did. His hands were slender and strong, he wondered how it would feel like to be touched by them… or be kissed by his lips, they looked like the type able to give sweet little kisses yet also know what they were doing when it came time to make out… Or how it would be like too… too…

“Peter, are you alright?” 

Peter was snapped out of his fantasies by the sound of Matt’s voice. God, his heart was pounding and his face was hot. He must have been blushing bright red, thank god Matt was blind… 

“Oh, me? I’m fine, yeah, everything’s just excellent. I’m fine, are you fine? I’m doing fantastic.” He lied, Jesus Christ, what was up with him? Now that he was snapped out of his stupid thoughts he realized just how stupid they were. Matt was his friend, his friend who was just concerned about if Peter was doing alright or not after his Uncle Ben died… Nothing more than that, he probably wasn’t even gay anyways. 

Matt furrowed his eyebrows, not looking convinced. “Really, if you don’t feel good we don’t have to stay here. I’m fine with just picking up our coffees and leaving if that’s what you want to do.”

“No really, I’m fine. I’m enjoying myself, hey, do you have any idea when the coffees are actually going to be ready? Last I checked coffee doesn’t take this long to brew, but I’m no expert.” Peter said, desperately trying to change the subject. How did Matt know Peter wasn’t thinking straight? Quite literally not ‘thinking straight’, what a lovely little pun to store away in the lame jokes book, did Matt somehow read his mind? He was blind, he shouldn’t be able to know he was blushing really red. However, psychics were probably out there given how superpowers are real, or maybe Matt was just faking his blindness, or maybe…

“Good question, hey Jessica! Care to tell how much longer it's going to be for that black coffee and mocha?” Matt called, grabbing Jessica’s attention.

“Oh. They were ready for the last ten minutes, forgot to tell you.” She said, pointing to the pair of coffees sitting all alone on the counter. 

Wow. No wonder Jessica was fired from her last job. Peter grabbed his mocha and danish, he took a sip and… great… it was getting cold. Dammit.

Matt didn’t look very irritated, he sighed after taking a sip out of his black coffee. “So, Peter, want to hang out around here any longer or want to start heading out already?”

“I’m about ready to head out, yeah.” Peter did not want to waste anymore time sitting here in the Starbucks dreaming about what it’d be like to make out with his friend. If there was something in here that contaminated the air with romance he needed to get away from it pronto before he embarrassed himself even more around Matt.

“Great, me too. See you at school, Jess.” Matt said and gave a small wave goodbye to Jessica.

“Yeah, you too.” She responded, pulling her phone out. 

They headed back outside, the weather was still the same as they had left it except now the sun were blocked out by a patch of clouds. It made the temperature colder than it was before and definitely more chillier when the wind came through.

“Glad I got us to bring hoodies, right?”

“Somewhat, yes.” Matt said, taking a bite out of his croissant. 

As they walked Peter wondered how Matt was able to be so cool all the time. He was such a chill person once you got to talk to him, sure Peter made a fool out of himself multiple times in front of him, but he didn’t feel like Matt actually cared. He might have been the same age as Peter but he felt like he was more mature than him, that he was forced to grow up faster than he was. He was strong and seemed like the kind of person who the world could take a shit on over and over and he’d always get right back up, refusing to let it bring him down. Peter supposed he somewhat envied that type of strength... 

“Matt, there’s something that’s been bothering me.”

“What is it?”

Peter took a deep breath. “You don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to, but…” he swallowed. “When you lost your dad, how did you cope with it? What helped you be able to get up in the morning and just… move on with your life?”

Matt didn’t respond for a few moments and Peter was about to regret asking in the first place, but then he did. “I’m trying to think of exactly how I was able to cope and… honestly? I was a mess. I wish I could tell you that I was able to handle it and that I’m doing fine now but, really, I’m still a mess. I don’t think I’ll ever truly be okay. I mean, life moves on, you just kind of have to not think about it I guess. Just move forward, one step in front of the other like everyone else.”

Peter sipped the last drops of his mocha. Man, that thing didn’t last long at all. “I see, I’ll do my best then.”

They walked on for another few minutes without either saying anything. Then, Matt spoke up again.

“Are you, by any chance, Religious?”

“Not really,” Peter threw his empty starbucks cup in a trash can they were passing by. “I mean, we celebrate Christmas and Easter and all that stuff, but I don’t remember ever stepping inside a church in my life. Are you?”

“Catholic.” Matt stated simply. “I don’t know how much it’d help, but I could take you to a church I attend frequently.”

“Isn’t today Saturday?” Peter pulled out his phone, yep. Saturday it is. “Isn’t church like a Sunday thing?”

“Well, if you want to attend service, then yes. However, the doors are always open for people to pray whenever they’d like, and I honestly prefer that opposed to doing it with dozens of other people. Feels more… private to do it that way; more personal.”

Peter thought about it for a second. He didn’t know how to pray but… couldn’t be too hard, right? “Sure, why not? Last I checked Jesus seemed like a pretty chill guy.”

Matt nodded. “Good, I’ll lead the way.”

Peter was dumbfounded by how easily Matt was able to navigate the city despite his lack of eyesight. Even Peter had trouble doing it and he had functioning eyes! Matt didn’t even have the help of road signs and he was able to tap his way across three street blocks all the way to a small little church. He stopped in front of it, tapped Peter on his shoulder, and said “Here we are.”

Peter wasn’t sure what he expected, it looked like a simple brown building on the outside. He guessed he expected the inside to be more extravagant, like those european cathedrals he heard so much about, but it was kind of basic; white walls, high ceiling, wooden benches. The most notable features were the stained glass windows, icons hanging on the walls, and a large wooden cross on the altar in front of it all. He guessed none of that really mattered though, Matt wasn’t able to see any of it anyways.

Peter followed Matt into one of the pews and sat down next to him. He wondered whether it was alright for him to talk but he supposed not; it was a church after all and he got the sinking feeling that churches are meant to be quiet. If they were allowed to talk in church Matt had to be the first to speak, he was the one who knew the status quo around here.

Given how Matt sat down and didn’t say a word, Peter assumed he was to do the same. He never really prayed much before. It wasn’t that he couldn’t, he just wasn’t raised in a household that did. He wondered whether or not he should press his hands together the way they did in movies, but Matt had his hands on his knees… Was Peter supposed to follow suit? He wondered if he’d look like a moron if he did press his hands together in prayer…

Then he remembered Matt was blind. It didn’t matter either way.

Peter pressed his hands together and did his best to pray. He first introduced himself, friendly neighborhood Peter Parker finally here to say hi to his lovely creator. Best to treat this like any other conversation, right? Yeah, he wasn’t sure whether God was real and all but can’t hurt to be polite just in case, you know? Hell doesn’t sound like a very nice place.

Despite his beating around the bush, once he got into the swing of it he found praying to actually be sort of helpful. It was almost theraputic really, like talking to a psychologist who also just happened to have created you, the world you live in, and the various little strings that held your life together. He vented about everything from Flash Thompson to Uncle Ben and everything that lied in between. He thought about his feelings about the spider bite as well, what was he supposed to do with these abilities? Uncle Ben would know what to do, but he was gone now… he really did feel lost without him.

“Peter, if I may, I think I would like to make a confession.” Matt said, speaking up. 

Turns out you can talk in church after all. “A confession?” He asked, wondering why was Matt was asking him at all. “Sure, go ahead.” 

Peter half expected Matt to get up from the pew and find a priest to confess too but was surprised about what he said instead. 

“I haven’t been completely honest with you, Peter.”

Peter immediately got anxious, there really was nothing more vague and nerve wrecking than those words strung together in that order. 

“About what?” 

Matt adjusted his grip on his folded up cane. “I’m going to come clean now about something I should have told you days ago. Promise me you won’t freak out about what I’m about to tell you and I won’t stop you if you decide you never want to speak to me again.”

Peter nodded before realizing Matt couldn’t see it. “I uh, I just nodded.” He stated, “Yeah, I won’t freak out.”

“I told you if I knew Spider-Man I’d tell him there are better ways to use his powers, right?”

“Yeah… you ignored - I mean avoided - me on answering that question.”

“Like I said, don’t freak out when I say this but…” Matt swallowed. “I know Spider-Man is sitting next to me right now, as I speak.”

Peter could’ve had a heart attack right then and there. “What??? That’s crazy talk, where’s Spider-Man? I can’t see him, he isn’t here, trust me he’s not-” How did Matt know? How did Matt find out? Who else knows? Who told him? 

“You have an unique smell I can detect as being different from everyone else’s.” Matt stated seriously, as if what he was saying didn’t sound crazy. “I know how that sounds, but it’s the truth.”

“You... detected me by my smell?” Peter stammered, “Dude, I’m not Spider-Man, and I take showers daily- I-” He really regretted not taking a shower last night, stupid depression and misery!

“Relax, it’s not just smell, everyone has a unique smell to them that only I can sense. It’s also your unique heart rate that sounds very different and well, unique, ever since you got bit by that Spider. Its rate been risen rapidly ever since I asked to confess and it’s just getting faster by every word I say since. I know you probably don’t want me to know you’re Spider-Man, but I do, and I just needed you to know that.”

“Wha… what… you… you realize how creepy and weird that sounds, right?”

“Yeah, I do. However, it’s abilities like these that allow me to, theoretically, be a blind man who can fight corrupted boxing managers in the middle of the night.”

Peter’s eyes went wide in shock. “Are you saying you were…?”

“Yes, that was me. We had a lovely conversation about how rude, edgy and asocial I am. I apologize for that by the way, I just didn’t want to involve you in my vigilantism.”

Peter slumped back in his seat, dumbfounded. He felt like the world had just flipped itself upside down and he couldn’t tell if it was for better or for worse.

“So… are you telling me you have super senses? What happened, did you get bit by a radioactive bat? Echolocation is kind of their thing last I heard.”

“Something like that, if you can consider trucks filled with toxic waste to be a breed of bat.” Matt grinned, “Yeah, my eyesight is utter shit, but I can hear things like the three birds that just landed on the roof of this building, smell that hot dog you had for lunch on Thursday, and feel that the wood on these pews were installed sometime in the nineties.”

“Okay…” Peter processed the information. “You know, as weird as that sounds, at least it’s not as weird as being able to walk up walls and stuff. I think I win the reward on that, the score is now 0-Murdock 2-Parker. The competition is heating up.”

Matt smirked. “Really? Last I heard I got the last point. Isn’t it 1-Murdock 1-Parker?”

Peter pouted. “Okay, okay! My memory can be bad, you can’t expect me to remember who won last time I made a stupid joke about having a score board!”

“Yeah, yeah, sure.” Matt said, amused. “The point is,” he stood up from his pew, “if I were to talk to Spider-Man and tell him what I think he should do, I’d tell him to use his powers for good and help those who can’t help themselves.” he fumbled to unfold his cane. “As much as I’d like to walk you home… I need to get home for dinner on time. Take care Peter, I’ll see you next time.”

Matt unzipped his hoodie and handed it back to Peter. He then stuck out his cane and tapped ahead of him, paused to throw out his empty Starbucks cup, and headed out the door. 

Peter made a promise to himself to shower the very second he got home. Twice.


	8. Sunday

Sunday

Matt wasn’t sure why he told Peter everything. 

He was always the type to keep secrets from people, always has and always will be. He didn’t tell his father that he had super senses, didn’t tell Foggy that he was a skilled martial artist, didn’t tell Karen that he wasn’t interested… etc. It didn’t matter who it was, he simply enjoyed having an ace up his sleeve. It helped him feel more… in control of his life, even if it's just an illusion. 

He had every intention of keeping it secret that he knew Peter Parker was Spider-Man. He liked knowing things that other people didn’t, he was good at feigning ignorance. He could have kept that act up forever, never telling Peter that he knew who he was, but he didn’t. 

Why did he tell Peter? Who knows, it was out of Matt’s mouth before he even realized it. There was something about Peter that just… made him trust him. He knows how silly that logic sounds, but it's the truth; Peter was a good guy and probably the only guy in the entire school who could relate to being in an accident that gave you superpowers. 

Matt really did believe Peter could do some good as a vigilante. He knew he was good at it as the masked man, this city suffered so badly every night and he was the only one who could help them. It would be nice to have some help and he had to admit Peter’s natural abilities made him a really good fighter even without the training that came with it. He felt like maybe Peter wouldn’t understand what Matt meant when he said Peter should use his abilities to help those who can’t help themselves if he didn’t know Matt was the masked man. Then again, maybe he would have believed him anyways? No way of telling, the cat's already out of the bag. 

He didn’t allow himself to think about what would happen if Peter wasn’t as trustworthy as Matt thought.

Instead he spent the majority of Sunday milling over law books and listening to Law and Order play on the TV Foggy was watching in the room over. Typical weekend day, he planned to go on a walk around Central Park, but that didn’t work out. He put it off too long and now he’s too deep in his studies to bother getting up and heading out. He wished he could say his Sunday was a colorful day full of indulging in his many interests, but he would be lying. His dad got him in the habit of studying whenever he had the time and it was a habit he hasn’t broken since. Maybe once he’s a successful lawyer off somewhere with too much money than he knew what to do with he’d think about getting a hobby. 

Other than vigilantism, that is. 

He didn’t expect to see Peter again that weekend, he expected the next time he’d see him would be Monday morning. He was wrong. Peter showed up in front of his apartment door little after seven P.M. the very next day.

He could smell him before he even knocked on the door. What was Peter doing here? Was he taking up his offer to become a vigilante like Matt? Maybe, or maybe he just wanted to hang out again, maybe both. Who knows. 

“Matt, Peter’s here!” Foggy shouted after opening the door. 

“Coming!” he shouted after him, locating his cane and getting up from his desk to head into the hallway. 

“Man, last I checked phone books weren’t around anymore but you’d be surprised how useful they are for finding an address, really!” Peter said, chatting to Foggy as Matt came to the door. “Like, I never got Matt’s phone number, right? So finding this address was harder than I thought, but I’m here now, so-” 

Peter definitely smelled different than yesterday. Matt always liked how Peter smelled of course, but the guy obviously tried cleaning up. He could tell he took multiple showers, clearly layers of soap has been put on and off him multiple times since yesterday. Maybe three showers? Four? Four showers seemed to be overdoing it, but he guessed Peter was just that persistent. He also smelled of perfume and god was that deodorant? Perfume and Deodorant. Matt wasn’t a fan of either product, the smell was always ruined by how Matt could smell each individual chemical put into them. It was odd how it was perfume and not cologne, but he didn’t question it.

Matt semi wished he didn’t tell Peter his sense of smell was as good as it is, he liked Peter’s smell better the way it was naturally. 

“Hey Peter, how’s it going? Didn’t expect to see you again so soon.” Matt greeted him. 

“Jeez, I feel so welcomed.” Peter pulled out a plastic bag he was carrying. “I got something fantastic to show you, you’re going to love it. If you don’t I am so sorry but you are keeping it anyways. No refunds allowed!” 

Matt could hear some clothing shuffling around the bag. “Did you buy me a hoodie?” He guessed. 

“Better, you’re mind is going to be blown.” 

“Want to take it out here?” Asked Foggy. “I can describe it to Matt and stuff.”

“Um,” Peter stammered. “I think this is actually something that should be kept between me and Matt, if that’s alright.”

Foggy squinted his eyes. “You… Matt, please don’t tell me that…” He threw his arms in the air. “Please don’t tell me you’re gonna do what I think the two of you are gonna do!”

Matt raised an eyebrow. “What do you think we’re going to do?”

Foggy smacked Matt on the shoulder. “You know! Last time someone came to our house wanting to hang out with you alone it was Elektra and you fucked on the bunk bed!”

Matt’s face went red. “We did not fuck! How many times do I have to tell you? We only kissed and crap like that, nothing sexual!”

“And I’m supposed to believe that?” Foggy groaned. “You know how bad of an influence she was! She stole cars and crap at the age of thirteen! Thirteen!”

“Yes! And she screwed me up for life but that doesn’t mean we ever fucked!” Matt argued. He really didn’t! Sure, Elektra wanted to multiple times, begged him and everything, but they were eighth graders and Matt wasn’t interested. “We only made out, once or twice.” Five times, Matt thought, but didn’t say that out loud. 

“Made out! On my bunk bed!” Foggy smacked his forehead. “I still think about that when I’m laying awake at night! If you are doing that with Peter please, oh God, keep it out of our room, I sleep there too!”

“Uh, I can, I can just come at a different time… Uh.” Peter stuttered, clearly extremely flustered. His heart rate was very rapid and his perspiration was getting mixed in with his perfume and deodorant. So much for four showers. 

“Fine, fine, just, please make out on the balcony or something, the door is right there.” Foggy said, pointing behind him. 

“Foggy, I never fucked Elektra and I’ve never fucked or even made out with Peter. We’re just friends.” Matt said. “You gotta trust me on this, alright?”

Foggy bit the inside of his cheek. “Alright, you win. I’m just overreacting. Sorry about that Peter, have fun with your plastic bag.” he grumbled, heading back to the couch to continue the episode he left off on. 

“Here, I’ll take you to my room.” Matt said, trying to keep his cool. God it sucked when he and Foggy had arguments, they rarely happened, but they especially sucked when it was about Matt’s personal life and in front of other people. “Uh, mine and Foggy’s room I mean, yeah.” 

“Sounds good to me.” Peter said, his hand over his heart. He was obviously trying his best to smother out the sound of his beating heart. Sadly, Matt still heard it clear as day and it was beating fast as hell. 

He led Peter into his room and shut the door behind them. “So, here’s my room. Top bunk is Foggy’s lower bunk is mine.” He sat down in his chair and tried to clear away some law papers he left laying out on his desk. “Sorry about Foggy, he’s been paranoid ever since… well…”

“That Elektra girl?” 

“Yeah…” God Matt hated thinking about her. 

Peter walked around the room, taking it all in. “So… was it really on Foggy’s bunk? Not yours?” 

Matt swallowed. “She thought it’d be more dangerous, top bunk, you know? She liked the idea of falling off the bed and breaking our necks.”

“Jesus,” Peter whispered. “She sounds delightful.”

“We got ‘engaged’ in a dark alley behind a Taco Bell.” Matt muttered. “You know how middle school is.”

“Engaged?” Peter scoffed. “That bad, huh?”

Matt smirked. “I’d offer you the job of best man, but Foggy’s got that covered.”

“Oh man, really? That sucks, can I at least have a front row seat at the ceremony? I want to make sure I’m the one to catch the bouquet and be promised a middle school wedding of my own.” 

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he laughed, “Anyways, what’s in the bag that’s oh so secret?” 

“Well, theoretically, if I’m Spider-Man, and you’re the masked man,”

“Which we’re not.” 

Peter grinned. “Which we’re not, I thought that, hey? If we were to run around New York beating up bad guys, we might need some upgrades.”

Matt nodded. “Theoretically, of course.”

“Theoretically,” Peter repeated, opening the plastic bag. “Now, I know you can’t see this, but check it out.” He pulled out one of the articles of clothing. “I like to call this, The Spidey Suit 2.0. It's the same Spider-man suit from earlier, but now it’s got a cool web design running up and down it.”

He handed the suit over to Matt so he could run his fingers over it. He was right, there was a web design covering the entirety of it. He could feel the threads woven into it; he really put a lot of care into his knitting. The material was soft, it was nice on his fingertips. Which was, a shocker, since Matt absolutely hated cotton. He used to save up money just to buy special kind of collar shirts that felt better on his sensitive skin because of it. The fabric was tensile, but not enough to be permanently stretched; it allowed for easy movement with none of the repercussions. 

“What material is this?” He asked, weaving his fingers through it. 

“Forgot, something I got for a discount from Jo-Anns.” He said. “It was so hard to sew the web design on it, I know you can’t see it so I’ll describe it for you. Imagine… The coolest superhero you could think of, like cooler than Super Man, but Spider themed. Red and Blue. Those colors go together, right?”

“Last I heard they do.” He handed the suit back to Peter. “It’s very nice, I’m sure it looks great on you. It feels comfortable.”

“Yeah, that’s not even the coolest part!” He exclaimed, shoving his hand back into the bag. “Check these things out,” He pulled out two small metal gadgets. “I call these, Web shooters. They uh, shoot web? Yeah, a web substance that, actually, I don't need to get into the science of it. Basically these will allow me to web up criminals, swing through the city if physics allows it… and look really cool.” He put on the shooters on his wrists and shot them. “Bam! Did you hear that? Come on, feel the web material! I’m really happy with how it came out.” 

He got up and felt the web substance on the wall. It was sticky and strong, just like real spider silk. “This is cool and all, but how am I supposed to clean this or explain it to Foggy?” 

“Um. Good point, I didn’t think that far.” Peter faltered. “They dissolve after about an hour, so uh, keep Foggy out for an hour, I guess.” 

“I’ll just get a wet rag.” Matt got up and headed out the hallway. He grabbed a towel, ran it under the sink, and walked back to the room. By the time he arrived Peter had another article of clothing pulled out of the bag. 

“Now, Magoo, you didn’t think I’d just forget about you, did you?” He asked rhetorically, proudly displaying another outfit for Matt as if he could see it. “I didn’t know what exactly to do for you so I tried a red design and went with that.” 

Matt placed the towel down on his table, he can clean the web in a second. He grabbed the article of clothing and felt all over it, it was made from the same material as Peter’s outfit. “Why make me an outfit as well? I was fine with being just a basic vigilante, this is really nice of you, but I don’t know how I feel about gangsters and crime lords seeing me as a superhero for children. No offense to you and all.”

“None taken,” Peter shrugged. “Okay, I know the whole superhero concept sounds ridiculous, but think about it! People rallied behind Spider-Man at the boxing ring without even knowing who Spider-Man is. Because of that, when you think about it, Spider-Man isn't really a person anymore but a type of symbol, you know? Something people can believe in. So I mean, sure it's a silly outfit, but a silly outfit might be what people need.”

“Perhaps. The question is however, does a silly outfit strike fear into the hearts of abusers and rapists?” Matt handed the outfit back to Peter. 

“Actually, it can.” He shoved the outfit right back into Matt’s hands. “Captain America wore a silly outfit, but he still scared the living hell out of the Nazis.” 

Matt exhaled, “Fair enough.” he smiled. “Well, describe it to me then. What kind of super symbol am I?” 

“Okay, well, I honestly had no idea what to do for you. Like, you got the whole blind bat thing but Bat Man’s taken. So I thought, why not just make a random design and just slap it onto you? I had this yellow thing all sketched out, but it was a nightmare. Then I asked myself, what colors look good on Matt Murdock? Now, assuming you can’t smell or taste colors, Mr. Terezi Pyrope, I’m going to tell you the color of your costume is one hundred percent red!” Peter rambled, “Red from head to toe, it really is your color. It suits you!”

“Yeah, you mentioned that.” Matt nodded, “I have a red suit apparently. That doesn’t explain what sort of amazing superhero I’m going to be.”

“Wow, so impatient! I’m getting there, just let me continue my story.” Peter took in a deep breath. “Okay so, I was knitting together this red outfit, right? And I was thinking, oh man this looks great, but basic as hell! What the hell is Matt’s amazing superhero persona going to be? He can’t be doomed to live a life as masked man forever! So I started thinking, what’s associated with the color red that is oh so scary and get Matt’s approval? Since I had the feeling that you wanted something intimidating…”

“You can spit it out now.”

“That’s when I thought of the devil! Okay, I know what your catholic brain is thinking, but hear me out. The devil punishes sinners, right? And you, like to punish those who do wrong, right? So… you can be like, bringing justice by being the devil who-”

“The devil?” Matt never thought about it like this. This could actually work. “Is this because I live in Hell's Kitchen? The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.”

“Exactly! I’m glad you understand, see! Check out the hood, there’s devil horns on it, if you hadn’t touched that earlier.”

Matt felt the little nubs of the horns again. “Yes, I felt them earlier, but I admit I didn't know what they were. Isn’t ‘Devil of Hell’s Kitchen’ a bit long though?”

“I never said that was what I had in mind! Here, feel this,” Peter grabbed the clothing in Matt’s hands and made the design on the chest face up.

Matt moved his hands over the design, clearly they were letters. “DD?” He read. “Is that supposed to stand for something?”

Peter shrugged. “How does… Daredevil sound? I mean, I remember you being called that as a kid, and… honestly it's a cool title, I think you should own it.”

“I never did understand how it was an insult. Glad I’m not the only one.” Matt snickered. “I mean, their other insults hurt, but ‘Daredevil’? Makes me sound like a stunt man.”

“Glad you like it, also! One more thing,” Peter pulled out the last item in the plastic bag. “Think you might like this.”

“Is this a nightstick?” Matt said, grabbing the item Peter held out for him. “I stole one just like this as a kid.”

“Yes, it might look like a nightstick, but it’s actually a- wait,” Peter stopped himself mid-sentence. “You _stole_ something?” 

“Long story, I was a dumb kid.” Matt said, twirling the stick in his hands. It was nice and balanced; he liked it.

“Never knew you were such a crook, maybe you’re the one I should be webbing up tonight. Freeze right there in the name of the law, Murdock!” He stuck his hands out as if he were about to web Matt up. “You are under arrest for the theft of a nightstick 10 years ago, you have the right to remain silent!”

Matt twisted the nightstick in his hands, expecting it to extend into a long stick like they were supposed to. Instead, he was met with a surprise when it extended into two billy clubs held together by an extendable cable. “Okay,” Matt breathed. “Not a nightstick.”

“Do you like it?” Peter asked, “I designed it myself since I thought it’d go well with the whole blind ninja thing you’ve got, it can also turn into a-”

Matt stopped him mid-sentence with a hug. “Enough talking. I don’t like it, I love it. Thank you for making this for me. Let’s shut up now and test out these new toys already.”

Peter’s heart thumped against Matt’s chest. He was flustered once again, but Matt only found it adorable. “You’re welcome, Matt.” He breathed over his shoulder. 

Matt enjoyed being up close to Peter like this. He could smell his natural scent underneath all the perfume when he was this close. It was nice. 

“By the way, don’t bother with the perfume.” Matt pulled away. “Your natural scent works best on you, promise.” 

“Dammit. Here I was hoping I could make a fool out of Matthew Murdock.” Peter picked up his costume, “Uh, should I change here and stuff?”

“I’m blind and we’re both guys. Who cares.” Matt said, unbuttoning his shirt. 

“Ah, alrighty then…” Peter’s heart was doing that rapid thumping thing again. He was definitely staring. 

Whatever, it was just getting dressed. He didn’t even know how his body looked naked, he had nothing to hide as far as he knew. He didn’t have any way to see Peter’s either so he got nothing out of this. Now, if he was ever given the chance to touch it, that’d be a different story. 

Once Matt had his pants down he raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you gonna get ready too?”

“Right, right! Yeah, just hang on.” Peter broke out of whatever trance he was in and made jerky movements to remove his clothing as quick as possible. 

About five minutes later the pair was in their new super suits. 

“It looks great on you, Matt.” Peter gawked, “I’m no Janet Van Dyne, I honestly thought I’d get the sizing wrong or something, but you really rock that look!” 

“Thanks, it feels like extremely durable pajamas. I’d say the same to you but… you know.” He slipped his glasses off his head. “It sounds good on you at least.”

“Whoa, hang on, don’t put your mask on just yet…” 

“Why not?”

“Your eyes are blue! I had no idea, they look really nice…” Peter gawked. “You should take your glasses off more often, just my opinion.” 

“Yeah, sure. From what I heard they’re all cloudy and freaky, so I’ll pass on that.” He slipped the mask on over his head. “I’m going to trust you that I don’t look like a circus clown right now.”

“You don’t look like a circus clown.” Peter said, his voice slightly muffled now that he put his own mask on. “And your eyes are not freaky! The cloudiness looks cool if anything, but anyways. Ready to go?”

“You do realize there’s still a human sized spider web on the wall, right?” Matt pointed behind him. 

“Right, let’s take care of that first…” 

Just like that, Matt cleaned the web off the wall, Peter shoved his regular clothes in the bag, and the two proceeded to jump out the window into the world below. 

“So… Where to first?” Peter asked, following Matt along the street. 

“Be quiet, I’m trying to listen.”

Peter of course, stayed quiet for about a minute. 

“Check this out!” He took out his hands and pointed them in front of him. Then, with a soft ‘thwip!’ a web was shot from his web shooter, attached to a building, and with a giant spider leap Peter swung his way on top of a building. 

“HOLY SHIT!” Peter exclaimed, throwing his fists into the air in triumph. “I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT WORKED! DID YOU JUST SEE THAT?”

“I can’t ‘see’ that, but I did sense it. Impressive, I’ll give you that.” Matt called up to Peter and toyed around his own billy club. Peter did imply that it had multiple uses, couldn’t hurt to test that theory. 

“Now, it’s my turn.” Matt said, separating the billy club into two and swung one half of it onto the building Peter sat on. Much to his surprise, the club did work as a grappling hook after all, and he was able to leap up the building in a similar manner as Spider-Man. 

Holy hell, that felt fantastic! 

Peter laughed joyously. “I can't believe you did it! I can’t believe I did it! I can't believe that- holy fuck does physics even allow stuff like that to happen? I don’t know, but holy hell I really don't care right now!”

“Try not to work your science brain too hard over it.” Matt stood up straight and kept his cool. “Let’s keep going.”

“Come on, don’t tell me I’m the only one freaking out about this! This is a huge development! The biggest breakthrough of our generation!” 

Matt smirked. “Fine fine, maybe it was a bit awesome. Let’s just not get sidetracked and remember what we're out here to do.” He jogged across the rooftops, tuning his ears into the sounds of the city, trying to sort through it and find someone in need of help. 

“Man, you’re so chill. How are you able to be so cool about all of this?” Peter ran alongside Matt, jumping across buildings and everything with ease. “Have you ever considered playing poker? I think you’d be amazing at it, is gambling legal in New York? I don't want to say either way since I know I’m not the lawyer here, that’s you, so I wouldn’t know.”

Man, Peter really did like to talk once you got to know him. Matt had no idea how he went through school as the quiet geeky kid without suffocating from the lack of dumb jokes.

Matt tried to tune him out, but that proved to be futile. 

“Can you shut up for a second?” Matt snapped, stopping dead in his tracks. 

Thankfully, Peter did as he was told and shut his mouth. Matt sighed and focused in on the sounds of the city, filtering out anything that was unnecessary. He heard the faint noise of something urgent just a second ago, it’s got to be out there somewhere, where was it… Where was it… 

“Matt, you know I-”

“Quiet!”

Peter sat still for another moment or so, and finally Matt found what he was looking for. “This way.” He stated, running off in a completely different direction.

“Where are we going exactly?” Peter asked, following Matt in whatever direction he was headed for.

“There's a mugger threatening a young lady three blocks over.” He threw his billy club into the building across the busy street. Thankfully, the club secured itself on the wall, and he swung himself across a large road filled with busy traffic.

Was this basically suicide? Only if it didn’t work and Matt fell to his death. The thing is though, it did work, and Matt did not fall to his death. So basically, everything turned out okay, and he was not going to think about what would have happened if he had died then and there. 

Peter shot his web and swung behind him. “Jesus Christ Matt! That was such a huge street, we coulda’ died!”

“But we didn’t.”

“Barely! I can’t believe you actually tried that and I actually followed you!” Peter panted, out of breath. “I mean, believe me, it was cool and really took that stunt we did earlier to the next level, but man. Every time I think I’ve figured you out you pull some weird shit like this and suddenly I don't know what to think and just-”

“We’re here.” Matt stated, and jumped down off the building.

There it was, just as Matt expected it to be. A lady was in a tug of war with a large man over her purse. Considering her size and weight, Matt was surprised she was able to fight against him as long as she has. 

“HELP ME! Someone please help! Please!” The lady cried. 

“Shut up lady!” The mugger bellowed. “I’ve got a gun you know!”

“Hello! Now I know I’ve only just met you, big large man, but I’m really not a fan of your life choices.” Peter bantered, landing besides Matt. 

“Get outta here! This doesn’t concern-”

Matt didn’t waste any time and threw his billy club right into the mugger’s jaw. 

“OW! FUCK!” The mugger cried. 

“Okay then! Directly to the point it is then!” Peter said, shooting his web onto the large man, sticking his arm onto the wall. 

“WHAT IS THIS?” He struggled against the brand new restraint. “LET ME GO YOU-”

His other arm reached for his gun, but before he could even hold it properly Matt had already punched him in the face hard enough to knock him out cold.

“Nice job Matt, just one more thing,” Peter stuck his hands out and webbed up the rest of the man to the wall. “You can never be too careful, you know?” 

Matt nodded. “True.”

“Who are you? Are you some sort of,” the woman stuttered and looked them up and down. “Superheroes?” 

“Yes!” Peter exclaimed. “That’s exactly what we are!”

“His idea, not mine.” Matt shook his head. 

“Come on, Magoo! You know it’s a great idea!” 

“Sure,” Matt scoffed. “I’m calling this a trial run.”

“What a stubborn asshole, am I right?” Peter said, playfully smacking him on the shoulder. 

“Well, if one of you is named Magoo,” the woman straightened out her clothing. “Then who's the other person I have to thank here.”

“Sorry for the confusion! His name isn’t actually Magoo, that’s a nickname.” Peter clasped his hands together. “You can refer to me as your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and this,” He gestured his hands towards Matt, “is Daredevil! He, uh, he sees through Earthbending.”

“‘Sees through Earthbending’?” Matt raised an eyebrow despite knowing perfectly well Peter couldn’t see it. 

“Well, yeah, it’s a reference to that one Cartoon Network show. Wait, was it Cartoon Network? It might have been Nickelodeon, please don’t tell me you’ve never seen Avatar.”

Matt crossed his arms. “Can’t say it matters much at the moment whether I have or haven’t,” he tilted the head towards the lady, still standing there watching. “And I’m not blind.” He added, praying Peter would get the message that he didn’t want his disability advertised to the public if he was going to be a hero with a secret identity. 

Thankfully, Peter got the message. “Right, sorry about that. Either way, I’m going to get you into some fun interests other than law even if it kills me.”

“I guess I’ll be leaving you two to it then,” The lady turned around, “Thank you for helping me, but I have to go. Goodbye now.” she ran down the alleyway without a backwards glance. 

“She seemed nice,” Peter grinned underneath his mask. “I’m glad we helped her and stuff, we make a good team.” 

“I agree.” Matt nodded towards the unconscious man webbed to the wall. “Any idea what to do with this moron?”

“Don’t you just leave your bad guys unconscious in the middle of alleyways?” 

Matt shrugged. “Thought maybe the whole webbing thing had a different terms of service attached to it. Would be harder to explain to the police if anything.”

“Here, I got an idea.” Peter said, pulling out a piece of paper and pencil. “I’ll just write up a lovely note for the police to read once they get here.”

Matt raised his eyebrows. “Where were you even keeping that?” He didn’t remember feeling any pockets or anything when he was touching his suit earlier. 

“Let’s just say, Spider-Man’s got his ways.” Peter said, scribbling something down, the sounds of the pencil moving across the paper echoing in Matt’s ears. “It’s not the only thing I’ve got hidden away either.”

“Like what?”

“I brought money!” Peter said, pulling out some paper bills. “I wasn’t going to let you buy me Starbucks without paying you back somehow. We did well beating up that mugger, whaddya say about hitting up the nearest Seven Eleven we can find and stuff our faces with potato chips?”

“I’m not into potato chips, but…” Matt thought about it for a second. “Sure, I’m down for that.”

“That’s great! Let’s go,” he said, placing the piece of paper in the webbing on the unconscious guy. He turned down the street and lead the way, Matt didn’t know any convenience stores that he was particularly fond of so wherever Peter lead him to was fine by him. 

Before Matt knew it he and Peter were standing outside the average corner store convenience shop. The city might be big, but at least you’re never too far from a place where you can buy a phone charger.

“Should we be going inside dressed like this?” Matt asked, listening to the people inside the shop. There were about two people, definitely not a crowd, but enough to cause a big scene if they didn’t like the way the pair dressed. 

“People love superheroes, I’m sure we’d be fine.” Peter said, opening the door to the store. 

“You do realize when it really comes down to it we are just a pair of masked teenager-”

“FREEZE!” An elderly store owner pulled out a gun and aimed it at the two. “I AM NOT GOING TO LET THIS STORE GET ROBBED AGAIN BY A COUPLE OF THUGS, YOU HEAR ME?”

Matt raised his hands and groaned. “Told you so.”

“But we have money!” Peter yelped, waving the dollar bills in the air. “You can’t listen to stereotypes, not all masked teenagers are a danger to you! I’ll have you know we are very nice people who-”

“They’re fine. Let them buy what they want.” 

Relief washed over Matt. The lady they saved earlier was the other person he detected inside the store, he just didn’t recognize her heart beat until now due to not being inside the shop yet. Now that he knew she was here, and willing to vouch for them, he allowed himself to relax a little. What were the odds that they’d see that same lady again so quick? 

“What do you mean ‘they’re fine’? They’re a couple of masked punks is what they are!” The man shouted, not lowering his weapon. 

“Dad, they’re the two superheroes who saved me from that mugger earlier. He could have killed me if not for them.” She said, gesturing to Peter and Matt. 

“You can call me Spider-Man and him Daredevil.” Peter said, much to Matt’s embarrassment. 

“‘Superheroes’? I don’t know the meaning of the word.” The old man growled.

“Dad, please.” The woman begged. 

“We have money.” Matt added, nodding his head towards Peter.

The man hesitated, looked between the three of them, and lowered his gun with a sigh. “Just buy what you want and get out. Having a bunch of masked lunatics running around my shop is bad for business.” 

“Thank you so much! We owe you one.” Peter cried, lowering his arms. 

“Think of it as, I owed you one and I just repaid that debt. No need to thank me.” The lady said, going back to whatever it was she was doing before the pair walked in. 

Peter and Matt walked through the isles. There weren’t many of course, it was a small corner store after all, but it was nice nonetheless. He took in the scents of the different fruits and vegetables; strawberries were always Matt’s favorite.

“Doritos or Cheetos?” Peter asked, holding up two bags of chips. “I would ask about Lay’s, but I’ve never been a fan of Lay’s. Sun chips is another option too if you want, anything’s fine as long as we stay away from Fritos.”

“Anything’s fine?” Matt repeated, smirking. “How about strawberries then?”

“Strawberries! You’re too healthy, fine, if you’re not into chips then what are you into? We got Starbursts, Hershey's, donuts, all kinds of crap really. So don’t say vegetables, it’s not an option!”

Matt thought for a moment. “I like ice cream.”

Peter grinned. “Now we’re talking!” He turned around and pulled Matt towards the freezer aisle immediately. “What kind? I doubt they have crap like Mint Cotton Candy Chocolate Chip here, but they might have plain chocolate chip if we’re lucky.”

Matt laughed, now that he thought about it Peter was kind of cute when he was all excited like this. “How does strawberry sound?” 

Peter scratched his chin. “Basic, but at least you didn’t choose Vanilla. That’s way too basic and I might be obligated to slap you.” He grabbed two small boxes of ice cream. 

Matt sniffed. “Did you just choose chocolate? You’re the one to talk when you choose the worst ice cream flavor ever.” 

“What? Come on, how is your nose that good?” Peter whined. “Chocolate ice cream isn’t that bad! I don’t get why everyone says that.”

“Trust me, you know something is bad when I knew it was bad even before my taste buds got enhanced.” He paused. “Perhaps we can just save some money and get a bigger strawberry box and share it. If you want to, that is.”

Peter thought about it for a second. “Fair enough.” He placed the two smaller boxes back and swapped them for a medium sized strawberry one instead. He also grabbed a pair of plastic spoons on his way to the checkout counter as well. 

After a few more minutes of banter with the store owner the two payed for their ice cream and spoons and left. They climbed up the nearest building, ran across the rooftops once again, and found a nice quiet spot to sit down and just eat. 

Matt got himself comfortable, taking off his mask once he was sure no one else was around. 

“Wow, Matt Murdock? Is that really you?” Peter joked sarcastically. “I can’t believe you're really Daredevil!”

Matt laughed. “Me? Daredevil? You have no proof and I will sue you for slander.” He fumbled with getting the plastic concealer off the ice cream.

“Maybe I do have proof, as Peter Parker,” he slipped off his own mask, “Photographer for the School Newspaper, I will snap a photo of you in your Daredevil suit. I’ll have all the proof I need to out your secret identity to the public!”

“You wouldn’t dare, Mr. Spider-Man, if that’s even your real name. As the sneaky, greasy little lawyer I am, I will make your life a living hell." 

“Good thing I’m not Spider-Man then.” Peter remarked through a mouthful of ice cream. 

“Touche.” Matt replied, taking a bite out of the frozen dessert as well. 

After that they ate quietly, enjoying each other's presence. They sat extremely close to each other, sharing the ice cream between one another in a way that did not require them to reach long distances to spoon it out, but also sacrificed each other’s personal space. Matt didn’t mind; he liked Peter’s scent despite the perfume. His heart beat was nice too, he seemed to get less and less embarrassed around him the longer they hung around one another. 

Peter was really cute, when Matt thought about it. He was nice, smart, and talkative. Sure, his jokes were dumb, but his heart was in the right place. It was very refreshing. It was also amazing how he was able to make a recovery after the death of Uncle Ben; Matt almost didn’t recognize him as the same guy he took on a walk just yesterday morning. 

Yesterday morning felt like a thousand years ago. They’ve come so long since then, sure they only just started hanging out, but he felt like they were friends for years… like this was meant to be. However, he hesitated to call it ‘best friends’, that was a title Foggy Nelson held in Matt’s heart. Peter had something else… something else that Matt couldn’t quite put his finger on…

“With great power comes great responsibility.” Peter spoke up, breaking Matt out of his thoughts. 

“Excuse me?” Matt asked, not sure what Peter meant by that. 

“It’s just something my Uncle Ben used to tell me. Always thought it was just adult drivel to lecture us kids, you know? I never really understood what he meant until now.” Peter spoke, his tone more serious than normal. 

“What do you think he meant by it?”

“I don’t think he knew exactly that I’d get superpowers, but I think that’s what these powers apply to. Being superheroes and stuff.” Peter leaned his head on Matt’s shoulder. “I think we can do allot of good out there, Matt.” 

“So, you’re saying it’s our responsibility to be heroes because of how we have these powers?” Matt put the lid back on the ice cream; it wasn’t finished yet, but it was melted to the point that it might as well be. “Makes sense. I know I regret not doing anything with my abilities until only just recently.”

“How long did you know how to fight like that anyway?” Peter asked. “I know you got chemicals that enhanced your senses and stuff, but I don’t think that’s what gives you Olympic level martial arts skills.”

“I’m not sure it’s Olympic level,” Matt chuckled. “But it’s because of a man named Stick. World class asshole, we don’t talk about him.”

“Well,” Peter paused, probably not sure what to say to that. “That sucks. I’m sorry to hear.”

“Don’t be, I’m over it.” Matt tried to think about ways to take the conversation away from Stick before Peter starts prying when an idea came to his head. 

“Peter, I hope you don’t mind if I ask a weird question…” He said, already semi regretting opening his mouth. 

“Sure, anything you want.” Peter said, lifting his head from Matt’s shoulder. 

“As a blind person, well,” He bit his lip. “I don’t have any clue how you look like. I have a basic idea of the shape of your general figure due to my, well, ‘radar sense’ for lack of a better word.” He paused, trying to think of the right way to word for what he was asking for. “I was wondering if you could describe yourself to me.”

Peter sat up straight. “Didn’t I already tell you? Spider-Man looks like-”

“No, not Spider-Man.” Matt interrupted. “Peter Parker.” 

Peter fumbled with his mask. “Peter Parker isn’t really anyone remarkable. He’s got, uh, messy brown hair that never really sits still. Brown eyes, they’re kinda dull and basic. They used to need glasses before I got the spider bite. They looked bad, made me look like Harry Potter or something. I mean, they were cheap so I went with what I had. But anyways, uh…”

Matt nodded. “Go on.” He said, listening intently, trying to picture Peter in his head. 

Peter took in a deep breath. “I’m skinny. I never really was able to get any muscle mass at all until recently, but I guess your radar sense already knows that part. I have acne, it’s kind of gross. I really don’t like the way my nose looks either.”

“You don’t seem to have a high opinion of your appearance.” Matt tilted his head.

“We’re our own biggest critics I guess.” Peter scratched his neck. “It’s just that I was nobody before becoming Spider-Man, so I guess part of me doesn’t want to remember Peter Parker exists too.”

“Can I maybe…” Matt displayed his hands in front of him. “Can I try to judge for myself? I don't have to do this if it makes you uncomfortable, but touch is the best way a blind person could... you know.”

Peter was taken aback. “Oh! Yeah, sure, go ahead.” 

He positioned himself in front of Matt and Matt raised his hands up to touch Peter’s face. 

The first thing Matt noticed was how soft Peter’s skin was. It wasn’t acne ridden the way he described it, it was soft and slightly sticky. The sticky part must have been from the ice cream, Peter did wipe his mouth, but Matt could still feel what was left of it imprinted on his skin. There wasn’t anything wrong with that of course, it was cute. 

He felt around his jawline, it was sharp and defined. His face had an oval shape, he supposed it was the perfect structure to wear a spider themed mask with. His nose was narrow and his cheekbones were not very defined at all. His eyes and eyebrows weren’t too high on the face to make him seem old but also not low enough to make him look like a kid; they were just right. Matt ran his fingers through his hair, it was relatively short and incredibly clean. Four consecutive showers will do that to you. That wasn’t even mentioning the lips…

The lips…

Before Matt could even think better of it he leaned in and kissed Peter. 

Immediately Peter’s heart spiked and his cheeks got hot. Despite his initial shock, he didn’t protest and kissed right back. Peter was sloppy, it was obviously his first time, but Matt got the impression he was enjoying himself well enough.

The kiss could only be described as the most relaxing feeling Matt has felt in his life. Sure, he had kissed Elektra before, but she was nothing compared to the pleasure he felt kissing Peter. He wasn’t sure what compelled him to kiss him, but he was glad he did. It might have been the best decision of his life. 

Matt wrapped his arms around Peter’s back and held him. His heart was beating rapidly, he didn’t even need to hear it to feel it through his chest, but he didn’t mind. He held him steadily for a minute or so before realizing he was getting too lost in the moment to notice how much time went by. 

Matt pulled away from Peter. “Don’t ever say you look ugly again.” he breathed. “You are the most beautiful person I’ve ever met, Peter Parker. I have felt it, you are perfect the way you are and I love you for it.” 

“That- that was - whoa, whoa…” Peter stammered, too flustered to produce coherent noises.

Matt wiped the sweat off his forehead. “Sorry about the kiss part though, it was a spur of the moment kind of thing.”

“No, no, don’t apologize.” Peter said, trying his hardest to compose himself. “I’m glad you did. Really, it was nice.”

Matt smiled lazily. “I had a feeling you had a crush on me anyway.”

“What, really?” Peter’s heart jumped again. “How did you know?”

“Your heart would get faster than normal around me, the kind of rate that only happens when someone is in love. I kind of put two and two together.” Matt stated simply, resting back into the position he was earlier before he kissed Peter. 

“That obvious, huh?” Peter picked up the melted ice cream box and poked at the melted liquid instead. “Listen, you don’t have to kiss me out of pity or anything just because I have a… small crush on you. I appreciate you being a good friend and all but really, if you’re not gay you’re not gay. I’d be able to handle it.”

“Do you think I would kiss you if I wasn’t gay?” Matt asked rhetorically.

Peter raised his eyebrow. “Didn’t you have a thing with some Elektra girl? Not to mention that Karen chick…”

Matt groaned. “God, don’t mention Elektra now. I was bisexual, but after her I just don’t really want anything to do with girls. I always get involved with the dangerous ones… I just don't need that in my life.” He paused. “So yeah, consider me gay. Karen is just a friend and I intend to leave her at that.”

Peter sighed. “I never could tell whether you and Karen were a thing or not.”

“Karen acts like we are, believe me.” Matt groaned. “It gets annoying sometimes, but she is a good friend and all. Enough about me, how about you? You gay, bisexual, etc?”

“Bisexual.” Peter exhaled. “I had a thing with a girl once, two girls technically, but neither really worked out.”

Matt raised his eyebrows. “Let me guess. Freshmen year, Gwen and MJ?”

Peter laughed. “Yeah, those two. MJ was just a one night thing when I went with her on a blind date to Homecoming. I’m not sure if she counts or not. Gwen however, lasted about a week before we cut it off, but I’m just glad it didn’t end horribly or anything.” 

“That was your first kiss though, wasn’t it?” Matt asked. 

Peter nodded. “Yeah… I’m nodding, not sure if you could tell.”

“I could tell.”

“You could tell.” Peter repeated and exhaled deeply. “So how do you rate it? For my first try that is.”

“Hmmm.” Matt thought about it for a moment. “I’ll rate it about four stars. Four stars for natural beauty and talent, minus a star for experience.”

“Four stars? That good, huh?” Peter laughed dryly. “So, were you for real about that thing earlier about the… you know… me being the most beautiful person you ever met thing?”

“Peter, listen to me. I’m going to tell it to you straight; I like you back.” Matt leaned forward and prayed that his eyes were meeting Peter’s. They probably weren’t, but he could dream. “I’ll admit, your jokes can be insufferable, but I think that’s what’s so charming about you. You always have something to say… but more importantly, I feel like you are the one person I could trust with anything. You are the only one who can relate to having abilities, after all, but that’s not what attracts me to you. It’s your fun loving personality and good nature, it’s cute, refreshing and…”

“Geez Murdock, you better stop before you make me cry.” Peter grinned sheepishly.

“Yeah, I’ll stop. I guess what I really mean to say is…” Matt hesitated, picking out his words. “Do you want to be my boyfriend?”

“You really asking me that?” Peter asked skeptically. “There’s really so many other people in our school and… I mean, yes, a million times yes. Oh my god, I can’t believe this is happening.”

“Don’t think that I want anyone other than you for even a second.” Matt moved over to Peter and hugged him. “I know we’ve only just became friends recently, but you already know more about me than anyone else. I trust you, Peter. You like me and I like you, I don’t see why not.”

“Well, then I guess I’m glad you can’t see.” Peter chuckled, nuzzling up against Matt. “Can’t wait till Gwen hears about this. She hates your guts man, never understood why.”

“Tell me about it.” Matt snorted. “She was passive aggressive at school Friday when I asked what was going on with you.”

“You asked about me?” Peter asked. 

“Well, yeah.” Matt shrugged. “I was concerned.” 

“That’s really sweet, but now that we’re dating I’m going to have to call you out on being gay.”

“Oh no, big bad newspaper photographer Peter Parker is going to report me to the school newspaper for being gay. Too bad I can’t even see the damn photos.” 

Just like that, the two bantered back and forth all night. They made jokes, talked about school, and discussed plans for the future. Despite being a pair of new superheroes the topic of being super rarely came up in the conversation; they just enjoyed hanging out like normal teenagers with the person they loved. 

They stayed out way too late, but neither really bothered to care. What Foggy would think about Matt being gone all night had almost completely escaped Matt’s mind. He could only assume Peter’s mind was in a similar state when it came to what Aunt May would think. 

However, the fact of the matter was it was late and neither of them felt like putting in the effort to go home. After a long session of cuddling together on the rooftop Peter eventually drifted off to sleep and Matt was left alone with his thoughts. 

It was clear to Matt now the place in his heart that Peter occupied. No, of course it wasn’t the best friend role, that was Foggy. Peter owned something different. Something that multiple people have tried to sneak their way into, but have failed. Karen constantly chased after it, but she will never have it. Elektra came close, but she was too forceful to ever truly obtain it. Various other classmates who admired him from afar have wished for it, but there was never really any hope for any of them in the first place. 

It was Peter who had won the special place in Matt’s heart. The special place meant only for romantic interests almost effortlessly. There really was no two ways about it; it was surprising that it took Matt this long to think of the word for the role Peter now took up in his life. 

Eventually, he too felt himself getting tired. He picked up Peter’s Spider-Man mask and laid it over his head. A secret identity was a secret identity, after all. He then laid his own head down to rest as well, placing his own mask on his face as well. 

They both completely forgot they had school the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is p much the ending of this first story, but don't worry! I'm gonna be working on more stuff for this universe, it will just be focused on other characters for a while. (they're going to be shorter too hopefully, yeah)
> 
> Don't worry though this fic is set to get a sequel and stuff, promise. Hope you guys keep reading for whatever else I post in the series, thanks for reading!


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